He said he could not release the committee’s 450-page report, which was handed to the provincial government in January after months of meetings and consultation. But Oppal said the committee looked at all the key issues about establishing a municipal force — recruitment, managing pensions, creation of a police board and “what happens to ongoing investigations, what happens to ongoing prosecutions.”
“All of those things are matters we dealt with during the course of our deliberations. I think it is a sound report,” he said.
It wasn't an update, more of an information session. He told us the provincial government cannot offer a referendum as it's not their jurisdiction. He brought up costs of a municipal force and told us the RCMP is organizing a union so the costs of the RCMP will rise. It sounded more like a "we've already decided and it's going to happen talk" to me! I wasn't the only one who thought that.
The Mayor and council members who voted to change to a municipal force did not attend yesterday's meeting. 15% of the citizens voted for the current mayor. Over 40,000 signatures were delivered to the Premier's office from citizens of Surrey asking to keep the RCMP.
The fair thing to do is a referendum and many people have asked. The mayor refuses to hold a referendum as he knows what the end result will be.
There is a back story to all of this. It's filled with corruption and if I could publish it, I would.
Open Letter to:
Surrey Residents
Members of BC Legislative Assembly
Members of Parliament
Media
written by Brenda Locke, Surrey Councillor and Jack Hundial, City Councillor Surrey Residents Want Input into Their Policing
Surrey residents have lost confidence and trust in the process to transition from the RCMP to a Municipal Police Department due to the lack of communication and transparency. It was acknowledged by the Solicitor General that the report done by the City of Surrey and Vancouver Police Department was inadequate, requiring the province to review it for gaps in the proposal. Mr. Oppal was asked to review the proposal and address the gaps in the report. We understand his report has now been deposited with the Director of Police Services, Brenda Butterworth-Carr. In keeping with the closed process surrounding this report from the onset, Surrey Council has not seen the recent Oppal report.
On February 14, 2020, Premier Horgan received a petition with over 40,000 signatures. Over the course of the year, several polls have determined that the majority of Surrey residents want to maintain the RCMP as Surrey’s Police Department. (Maple Leaf Poll - 64%, City of Surrey’s own Consultation Report - 73% and now the National Police Federations’ Poll - 77%). These polling results were achieved even though the public did not have a clear indication of the cost impact to the taxpayer. Certainly, these results point to a discrepancy between Mayor McCallum’s interpretation of the 2018 local government election results and do not support his comments that the Surrey residents are in favour of a move from the RCMP. On May 23, 2019, Premier Horgan stated “The public needs to have a clear understanding: Why there would be a requirement to change, what the cost of that change would be, and would it be a diminishment or an improvement in the delivery of services to people?” He went further to say, “I can’t answer those basic questions because I don’t know, and if I can’t, I assume the public can’t either.”
Then on May 24, 2019, it was reported that Premier Horgan stated “I would argue, and I’ve made the case to Mayor McCallum, that the public needs to have a clear understanding why there would be a requirement to change, and what that cost would be, and would there be a diminishment in service to people,”
Premier Horgan went further to say that the province “has a significant role to play in the delivery of public safety services in Surrey” and will need to look closely at the details of Surrey’s proposal before it decides whether to allow the change. It has been unclear throughout this process what the level of service would be nor has there been a comprehensive comparison of the current service of the RCMP with a new, untested Surrey Police Department. Certainly, cost implications have never been clearly outlined and communicated to council or the public.
More recently, on January 23, 2020, it was positive to hear Premier Horgan speak in support of the concerns of Surrey resident and especially taxpayers when he stated: “Traditionally municipal forces cost more than the RCMP and again those are issues that the public need to know before they make a final decision. I think the Mayor appreciates that, he would prefer to move faster, I know that, but I think it is our responsibility to make sure that when Surrey makes these choices, they do it with full information. That is what the Oppal process has been all about. And there will be costs, so I think it is important that people know that before they take a leap of faith”
Costs to residents We appreciate that the provincial government is concerned about Surrey taxpayers. Policing across the country is plagued with escalating cost, therefore, managing those cost is critical to residents and ultimately public safety in general.
The original Police Transition Report did not provide a solid pathway regarding the cost impact to residents. Further, we have learned that all cost projections were done on a “best case” scenario. We already know that the reported cost projections for I.T. in the report will not be achieved and that those costs will be significantly higher than originally budgeted.
The RCMP are a good value for Surrey Comparisons between cities will provide a general guideline to better understand the cost implications to Surrey taxpayers should we change our model from the RCMP to a local police force. The chart below is extrapolated from a report by the Ministry of Public Safety. These are cost per capita in three “like” jurisdictions that have local police forces. This is based on 2018 statistics.
Surrey RCMP $284
Vancouver VPD $458
Delta DPD $351
Victoria Vic PD $491
Surrey % Increase 38%↑ 19%↑ 40%↑
There can be no question that the police transition will increase taxes for Surrey residents. The question is by how much. These numbers do not include the capital costs of the transition nor does it include any costs from a risk management (insurance) perspective. Cities fund the risk management where there is a local police service whereas the costs for the RCMP are borne nationally. Suffice to say risk management can be a significant and unknown cost to the city when there is a requirement to compensate for personal or property damage done in the line of duty. Similarly, with employee costs like the health employer tax, the RCMP funds those nationally however, they are funded by cities with local police departments.
Hiring police officers is a challenge throughout North America. It should be predicted that Surrey will be faced with that same challenge to recruit the number of officers required for a police service even to meet the minimal requirement as stated in the Police Transition Report of 805 officers. While it has been stated that some members will come from the current Surrey RCMP detachment, that has not been confirmed. There is a further concern that some of the officers will come from other police departments like West Vancouver, Vancouver and New Westminster because of the cost of living in Surrey is more in line with a police officer’s wage.
Training for all municipal police departments in British Columbia is done through the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC). The funding and ability for the JIBC to train officers is limited and just keeping up with the existing need for officers in B.C. In the BC Budget 2020, there was no additional funding to the JIBC to meet the need of a new police department the size of Surrey. The RCMP training facility in Regina has more flexibility and can increase or decrease intake as the national need dictates.
In the end, if this issue is that Surrey is concerned about local input into policing in our city, that can be achieved through a Local Police Board for the RCMP. While this is a new option, it is working successfully in several jurisdictions in the country. Stephen Thatcher, Assistant Commissioner of the Lower Mainland District Commander, ‘E’ Division, RCMP said “a type of police board, in the form of an advisory or local police committee to support the mayor and council in working with the RCMP is a potential option for the City of Surrey.” The province is in a position to listen and provide Surrey citizens with an opportunity to have their voices heard. Likewise, it is important that First Nations peoples are consulted in a meaningful way – government to government – in accordance with all that is right and just.
Now that police transition file is out of the hands of the local government and the purview of the provincial government, we trust that the province will consider the wishes of the residents of Surrey.
