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South Surrey man collecting signatures to keep RCMP

Ivan Scott is attending SPD info sessions with his petition
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South Surrey resident Ivan Scott was at Crescent Beach Thursday collecting signatures of people who were opposed to the city moving to a Surrey Police force. (Aaron Hinks photo)

A South Surrey man has attended every Surrey Police “consultation event” hosted by city – except he’s collecting signatures of residents who are opposed to Surrey moving away from the RCMP.

Ivan Scott, whose son is a member of the Surrey RCMP, set up a petition booth not far from the City of Surrey’s “Survey Station” at Crescent Beach Thursday morning.

While the city was inviting people to take its survey, which can also be found online, Scott was collecting signatures from people who are against the transition.

One of the reoccurring concerns raised by residents to Scott Thursday – which has been a common theme at all the events he’s attended, he said – was that residents want more police officers, not fewer.

The Surrey RCMP has 843 officers, while the proposed Surrey Police force is to have 805.

READ ALSO: McCallum says Surrey Police officers will be patrolling streets by July 2020

READ ALSO: Linda Hepner flunks Surrey’s police transition plan

The money used to transition to a Surrey Police force should be allocated to the Surrey RCMP to hire more police officers, Scott said.

Scott told Peace Arch News that his motivation for collecting signatures – he’s amassed more than 1,400 so far – was that he believes voters elected Safe Surrey Coalition because of their preference for SkyTrain, and not the removal of the Surrey RCMP.

Scott also took issue with the proposed plan, saying that it was created with little consultation or feedback from the public.

“(Mayor Doug McCallum) just did it on his own and rushed away with it. People were really ticked off and I was ticked off,” Scott said.

Scott says he averages about 200 signatures at each event. Although there is an online petition that has collected more than 6,200 signatures, Scott says a hand-signed petition carries more weight.



aaron.hinks@peacearchnews.com

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