Surrey council formally asks B.C. government to dismantle Surrey Police Service
Solicitor General Mike Farnworth must now decide the future of policing in B.C.'s second-largest and fastest-growing municipality
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The City of Surrey voted on Monday night to formally request that B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth support the dismantling of the Surrey Police Service.
In a vote that went 6-3, Surrey mayor Brenda Locke made good on her election promise to reverse her predecessor Doug McCallum’s decision to replace the Surrey RCMP with a municipal police force.
This required a vote last month to support the Surrey RCMP over the SPS, plus a report from staff outlining the pros and cons of retaining either force, and then, finally, a letter to Farnworth explaining why the SPS should be wound down and an economic and staffing plan for it.
This letter to Farnworth will be sent by Wednesday and be backed by a staff report that claims sticking with the RCMP will save $235 million over five years. However, on Monday night, the city’s general manager of finance, Kam Grewal, noted that the true cost of dismantling the SPS will not be known until it is fully wound down.
“We will not know the true cost until we have only one left,” Grewal said.
Policing has been a divisive topic in the province’s second-largest and fastest-growing municipality.
The SPS has already been formed, with an oversight board, a chief constable and dozens of its officers working alongside Surrey RCMP officers learning the ropes.
Farnworth holds authority over policing in B.C. and must approve the dismantling of the service, with the same power he used to authorize its creation.
The SPS claims the report going to Farnworth is inaccurate and inflated.
On Monday, Locke said a lot of the work that had been done by city staff to examine the comparative costs of the Surrey RCMP compared to the SPS should have been done four years ago.
According to the city report going to Farnworth, an SPS sergeant earns $144,000 a year compared to an RCMP sergeant earning $130,000. A SPS constable earns $107,000 compared to an RCMP constable who earns $100,000 a year.
Regardless of whether Farnworth approves dismantling the SPS or not, the city is going to pay $100 million more for policing in 2022 than it otherwise would have because of the duplication of having the two forces in operation.
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