Surrey Police Service poised to take over command from RCMP

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When the Surrey Police Service takes over command of policing from the RCMP at midnight on Nov. 29, the long-running transition to a new municipal force will be far from over.

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Speaking at a monthly Surrey Police Board meeting Wednesday, Chief Constable Norm Lipinski said the transition away from the RCMP is not expected to be complete until sometime in 2026 or 2027.

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Once the SPS takes over command, the municipal force will initially have responsibility for the neighbourhoods of Whalley and Newton, while the RCMP will have responsibility for other areas of Surrey. The next policing district the SPS will take over in 2025 is South Surrey.

But special units, including detectives, youth squads and community outreach, will continue to be provided by both forces across the city.

And the two forces will also provide support citywide when there are significant incidents and where there is an issue of public safety, said Lipinski. That would include incidents like shootings.

During the transition, the public will see both Surrey Police Service (SPS) and RCMP vehicles patrolling Surrey.

Lipinski offered assurance to residents they will be safe when the SPS takes over command from the RCMP, officially becoming the police of jurisdiction, as it continues a transition that started three years ago.

“Two days away. We are ready. We feel confident,” said Lipinski.

Lipinski noted that while the SPS will be moving into the former RCMP headquarters on King George Highway, the emergency numbers and police response will not change. RCMP officers will also continue to work out of the headquarters as the transition continues.

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Lipinski noted that planning has been underway for months for this day and includes a first-day resourcing plan that lays out where all officers will be and what their duties will be.

There is also a handover plan related to specialty and investigative units. File transfers will take place gradually as the SPS increases its number of officers and the RCMP reduces its staffing.

Mike Serr, the B.C. government-appointed Surrey police board administrator, noted the transition has been challenging and commended those who helped move it forward. “It should not be lost on anybody that this is the largest policing transition in Canadian history,” said Serr, a former Abbotsford police chief.

Serr was appointed administrator after the B.C. government removed the police board, headed by Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke. The board is to be reinstated in early 2025.

Locke and her majority city council were engaged in an 18-month battle to stop the transition undertaken by the previous council. The battle only ended in July when Locke and her council agreed to a $250 million deal with the province to assist with the costs of the transition.

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During the long-running battle, Locke and her council had refused to fund a ramped-up transition and hiring essentially halted.

Locke and her council lost a B.C. Supreme Court attempt to block the transition, which the province wanted to go ahead.

So far, the SPS has hired 446 officers, nearly 60 per cent of the 785 officers needed for Surrey.

Of those, about 270 are working patrol or on the frontlines, about 50 per cent of the frontline work being shared with the RCMP, according to Lipinski.

Other SPS officers are overseeing operations, recruiting and training officers, and working on the logistics of the transition.

The Surrey RCMP did not respond to Postmedia questions this week on their preparations for the Nov. 29 takeover and their staffing numbers.

The RCMP’s provincial branch will oversee the Surrey detachment RCMP officers after the SPS takes over command.

In an earlier statement about the transition, RCMP Assistant Commissioner John Brewer, responsible for criminal operations in B.C., said: “We will ensure there is certainty for our Surrey members as we shift to a provincial support unit for Surrey, with specific roles and responsibilities.”

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A key concern of Locke and her majority council has been that the municipal force will increase costs.

The province’s financial package includes $30 million a year until 2029 to assist with the transition. It also includes as much as $20 million a year between 2029 and 2034 if Surrey Police Service costs are higher than the city would have paid to the RCMP.

A cost analysis produced by accounting firm Deloitte for the province showed that if both forces had 734 officers, the SPS would cost $30 million more a year than the RCMP, about a 15 per cent cost increase. RCMP wage costs have increased since then, on par with the SPS.

Locke has repeatedly pointed to a difference of $75 million from the Deloitte report, but that compared an SPS force of 900 officers to an RCMP force of 734 officers, not an apples-to-apples comparison.

Locke had said earlier that she wants to understand the progress to date on the transition and ensure the policing model and costs address Surrey’s needs.

The B.C. government said over the summer the city had appointed two leading experts in the policing field, Tonia Enger and Clayton Pecknold, to represent the city at a joint implementation table, alongside representatives from the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Public Safety Canada, the RCMP and the SPS.

ghoekstra@postmedia.com

twitter.com/gordon_hoekstra

ghoekstra@postmedia.com

twitter.com/gordon_hoekstra

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