Those of us who thought a decision from provincial Sol. Gen. Mike Farnworth would put an end to the storms of controversy over Surrey policing were dead wrong.
The controversy raged all day Friday and continues this week. Farnworth’s press conference was at 9:30 a.m., when he announced the province would “recommend” that Surrey stick with the transition to Surrey Police Service. At 11 a.m. the recommendation was firmly rejected by Mayor Brenda Locke.
READ MORE: Surrey will ignore province’s recommendations and stick with RCMP, Locke says
At almost the same time, former mayor Doug McCallum, who initiated the transition to the SPS, was doing a victory dance at a press conference, along with the two remaining Safe Surrey Coalition councillors, Doug Elford and Mandeep Nagra.
READ MORE: Recommendations to continue with Surrey Police Service a victory for people of Surrey, McCallum says
Then in the afternoon, the RCMP said it could meet the conditions laid down by Farnworth for the RCMP to remain in Surrey, while SPS Chief Norm Lipinski said he hoped the transition would go ahead.
READ MORE: Surrey Police Service Chief says he hopes province’s endorsement will convince council to end debate
While the province has promised up to $150 million in funding to assist with the transition, ultimately the net effect of Farnworth’s decision (which took five months to make) is that Surrey council will have to take another vote to determine which route it will go. Shortly after Locke’s Surrey Connect slate elected five members to council (a bare majority), council voted 5-4 to halt the transition. A month later, Coun. Mike Bose of Surrey First also voted to approve a plan to keep the RCMP, making for a 6-3 vote.
However, Farnworth called for information from the city, the RCMP and SPS before that decision could be approved. He is responsible to ensure that public safety remains foremost through any policing changes.
The big question is, will the 5-4 majority hold? McCallum’s slate, after it was slimmed down by the departure of Locke, Jack Hundial and Steven Pettigrew, held firm from 2019-2022 and won many 5-4 votes.
The pressure of rejecting $150 million in provincial money and paying up to $72 million in severance to SPS officers from city taxpayers will be enormous on the five Surrey Connect members of council. There is also the matter of an ethics complaint against Surrey Connect Coun. Rob Stutt. Surrey Police Union filed the complaint because Stutt voted to go back to the RCMP.
Both his son and daughter work for Surrey RCMP, his son as a member, his daughter as a civilian employee seconded by the city.
If Surrey’s new ethics commissioner Peter Johnson rules there is a conflict of interest, Stutt may not be able to vote on the matter. That would leave council tied at 4-4, and the motion to stick with the RCMP would fail.
That, of course, assumes that the two Surrey First councillors would vote against sticking with the RCMP.
Surrey First Coun. Linda Annis believes the matter should go to referendum first before council makes a final decision. It is likely her Surrey First teammate, Coun. Mike Bose, agrees.
A referendum should have been held at the very beginning of this process almost five years ago. Of course, proper information would have to have been provided to taxpayers. Neither happened. It is now very late in the game to do so, but at least there is an actual cost now. Taxpayers will pay an extra $30 million per year to have SPS as the police force, according to Farnworth’s report.Before council makes any decision, all members of council must have full access to that report. Locke was given a heavily redacted version just before Farnworth started speaking. Farnworth said Monday that council members will get a full version of the report. Council cannot make a proper decision without full access to the information that has been gathered.
Stay tuned – this matter is far from concluded. And hold on to your wallets – no matter what the decision is, it will cost Surrey taxpayers a great deal more than if there had been no move to transition police forces.
Frank Bucholtz writes twice a month for Black Press Media.