The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect the view or opinions of the City of Surrey or other members of Surrey Council.
An Update on McCallum’s Surrey Police Service
It’s Over budget
Behind Schedule
Not staffed by locals as promised
After the expensive transition, it will easily cost at least 10% more than the current RCMP.
The Surrey Police Service (SPS) will also have less officers than the existing RCMP Detachment.
Surrey Police Service hires ex RCMP management
None of whom live in Surrey.
As the Surrey NowLeader noted in their last editorial, this new Surrey police force is so far quite top-heavy with senior members who reside in communities other than Surrey, a condition which flies in the face of Mayor Doug McCallum’s election campaign pitch that we need a police force whose ranks live in this city.
Read the whole article here
Anti-gang programs are also being cut
BC’s Solicitor General Mike Farnworth – who approved McCallum’s police transition – is cutting anti-gang program funding in schools. Safer Schools Together (SST) received just $500,000 of the $1.13 million committed by the Public Safety and Education ministries for the 2020-21 fiscal year, Postmedia News has learned.
Read the full Province article here
McCallum promised the SPS by April 1st, 2021
With 6 weeks to go they only have a plan to have a plan
Surrey Police Service Chief Norm Lipinski commented in an interview with the Cloverdale Reporter “Of course it’s a little bit challenging with the pandemic, but we’ll be putting together a plan that in the coming months we will engage in the community as we move forward but the timing has to be right for that, meaning we have to have a plan, a strategic plan, first and that is sort of the structure, the bare-bones structure, and then we will consult with the community and then we will put a more comprehensive strategic plan together,” Lipinski reported.
Read the whole interview here
Now for Some Uncommon Common Sense
Surrey Connect’s Jack Hundial and Brenda Locke discuss Surrey Policing with Kash Heed.
Kash Heed was the first Indo-Canadian police chief in North America. He also served as British Columbia’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. Prior to that, he was the chief constable of the West Vancouver Police Department and a former superintendent with the Vancouver Police Department.
Kash Heed offers the perspective of 41 years of policing experience to the debate on the Surrey Police Transition.
Locke previously served as British Columbia’s Minister of State for Mental Health and Addiction Services
Hundial was a Staff Sargent with the Surrey RCMP. He recently retired after a 25-year career with the RCMP.
This is a very interesting conversation between Kash Heed and Surrey Councillors Brenda Locke and Jack Hundial.
WATCH THE THREE-PART CONVERSATION HERE:
