Legislation coming soon to speed up Surrey's policing transition: B.C. public safety minister
Mike Farnworth said legislation will be introduced 'soon' but could not reveal details
The province is planning to introduce legislation to push the City of Surrey to "stop the delays" and accelerate the transition from the RCMP to a municipal police force, the public safety minister says.
Speaking on CBC's On the Coast, Mike Farnworth, who is also solicitor general, said he could not reveal details of the legislation but it will be introduced "soon."
"What needs to happen is the city needs to get on board, they need to stop the delays and get on with things," said Farnworth.
"It's frustrating because the final decision [on Surrey policing] has been made and everything I hear from the public is that they should just get on with it."
In July, the province used its powers to order the City of Surrey to continue the transition from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service (SPS). The order escalated existing acrimony between the two levels of government by effectively forcing Surrey's new council to reverse its decision to keep the RCMP.
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke made keeping the RCMP the major plank in her election campaign last October, when she narrowly beat out Doug McCallum. McCallum had advocated for and overseen the first steps in the police transition to the SPS.
A leaked letter from B.C.'s director of police services puts a sharper point on the province's current criticisms of Surrey's mayor and council.
"It is my observation that this lack of progress and delay is due in large part to a lack of leadership and engagement by city council and staff," wrote Glen Lewis in the letter addressed to Locke, dated Oct. 5.
"In my view, city staff have been only minimally engaged in select aspects of this work to date and are seemingly constrained by a lack of clear direction from the mayor and council to progress the transition to Surrey Police Service."
Lewis goes on to cite a number of specific instances where Surrey council and staff have dragged their heels, failed to communicate or misrepresented information.
But Surrey Coun. Pardeep Kooner said the letter from Lewis is completely offside.
"To be honest, I was quite angry when I first read it because it's full of inaccuracies," she said. "It was very one-sided and it didn't actually depict the true conversations that have been happening behind closed doors."
Kooner said council members have been asking Farnworth and his staff to explain how Surrey is supposed to pay for the SPS.
The province has pledged $150 million, but Kooner, an accountant, thinks it will cost a lot more.
"Knowing what I know, I'm going to say it's about $700 million for the next five years to actually have a police force," she said. "This is going to cost taxpayers more money, and they elected us to not have this move forward. And now the province has said that it is a must, which is fine. They have every right to make that decision. But who is going to finance it?"
Opposition Surrey Coun. Linda Annis said Locke's political foot-dragging is to blame for the lack of progress.
"It feels like we've gotten nowhere, to be totally blunt. There's a real state of inertia and things aren't happening," said Annis, speaking on The Early Edition.
Annis said the stalling is costing Surrey taxpayers $8 million per month because the city is still having to run two police forces.
"We're not able to move forward in terms of hiring for the Surrey Police Service, or in letting other officers from the RCMP be relocated to other places. So, effectively, we're nowhere," she said. "We've been in office for almost a year so, if you do the math, that's $96 million. Taxpayers of Surrey can't afford that," she said.
In his letter, Lewis requests a report from Surrey addressing the issues he raised by Oct. 13. He also mentions the proposed changes scheduled to be introduced in the legislature in mid-October.
"Ministry staff have briefed city staff on proposed amendments to the Police Act related to police transitions," he said.
The next sitting of the legislature is Oct. 16.
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with files from Meera Bains