Surrey First mayoral candidate Gordie Hogg promises 300 more police officers

Surrey Police Service

If elected with a majority in the upcoming civic election, the Surrey First party will hire 300 new additional police officers to address growing policing needs in the City of Surrey.

Gordie Hogg, the party’s mayoral candidate, announced the campaign promise today, which will commit $15 million annually for the next four years to expand the police force, regardless of whether it is the new municipal-governed Surrey Police Services (SPS) or retaining the Surrey RCMP.

The municipal government has committed to significant investments in policing over the last four years, but this has largely been used for the purpose of transitioning the City from the Surrey RCMP to the new SPS.

Hogg states each new officer added carries a cost of about $200,000 annually in terms of salary, benefits, pension, and equipment.

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The additional officers are needed as Surrey is currently under-served compared to its counterparts; Surrey has 85% of Vancouver’s population, but has 843 officers while Vancouver has over 1,400 under the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). Moreover, Surrey’s population is growing at a rate of about 1,000 residents per month, and its land area is equal to the size of Vancouver, Burnaby, and Richmond combined.

“New officers are an absolute must for this city,” said Hogg, who is also critical of the transition to the SPS pushed forward by Safe Surrey Coalition incumbent mayor Doug McCallum.

“Surrey residents deserve to know all of the facts about the police transition, and what it would take to complete the process.”

Linda Annis, the sole city councillor for Surrey First, has been suggesting that the full transition from the Surrey RCMP to SPS will cost more than expected for both one-time transition costs and annual operating costs, and that the SPS will have fewer officers than the existing numbers with the Surrey RCMP.

In the 2018 election campaign, Annis ran on a platform of holding a referendum on whether Surrey should transition to its own municipal police force. Surrey First has made it known that it intends to hold a referendum if elected this fall.

McCallum’s strategy with the creation of the SPS was to improve policing through greater local accountability and governance, compared to the municipal government’s framework under contract with the Surrey RCMP.

But Surrey First appears to be putting more weight on the importance of improving policing with greater officer numbers.

“We want our community to know what we need and what it will cost. Doug McCallum and his four councillors have stopped the city from hiring any new officers over the past four years, so we are short boots on the ground,” said Annis.

According to a newly released annual report for the SPS, the municipal police department has grown to a size of 235 police officers — with 120 officers deployed — and 40 civilians. This makes the SPS the third-largest municipal police force in BC after the VPD and Victoria Police Department, and the sixth largest overall when both municipal and RCMP forces are accounted for.

However, for the time being, SPS officers are working under the command of the Surrey RCMP. A timeline for the handover of policing jurisdiction to the SPS has not been determined.

SPS is now targeting to have 295 officers deployed by May 2023, about 2.5 years after the hiring of its first staff person. The vast majority of the officers are already experienced and trained from other detachments.

About $25 million in operating, capital, and transition costs were expended by the SPS in 2021, and a further $79 million is budgeted for 2022.

The actual one-time policing transition has a budgeted 2020 to 2024 cost of $63.7 million, with $4.6 million spent in 2020, $15.6 million spent in 2021, and $43.5 million remaining for 2022 to 2024. To date, the vast majority of the one-time transition costs relate to developing the information technology infrastructure for SPS.

The civic election is scheduled for October 15, 2022.

Hogg was previously a longtime city councillor and mayor of White Rock, and an MLA and MP representing the provincial and federal ridings of Surrey-White Rock.

To date, about half a dozen people have announced their candidate to be the mayor of Surrey, including McCallum and NDP MLA Jinny Sims.

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