THIS LETTER TO ALL MAYORS IN B.C. WRITTEN BY COUNCILLORS BRENDA LOCKE AND JACK HUNDIAL SAYING THAT THE IMPACT OF THIS TRANSITION WILL BE FELT FAR AND WIDE IN B.C. AND WILL NOT ONLY AFFECT THE LOWER MAINLAND. ALREADY THEY HAVE HAD GREAT RESPONSE FROM OTHER CITIES AND TOWNS IN B.C.
Brenda Locke Councillor
T. 604.502.6032 brenda.locke@surrey.ca surrey.ca
Jack Singh Hundial Councillor
T 604.502.6035 jack.hundial@surrey.ca surrey.ca
City of Surrey | Councillors’ Office
13450 – 104 Avenue
Surrey BC Canada V3T 1V8
February 15, 2021
Dear Member of Local Government,
Re: Surrey’s Police Transition’s will Impact Public Safety in British Columbia and there is an urgent need for a feasibility study.
The City of Surrey is working to transition from the RCMP to a city police department. This decision has met with significant opposition from the residents. We are two of the councillors that do not support the Surrey police transition and believe it is incumbent on us to let you know that this transition will impact public safety in municipalities throughout British Columbia, especially the Lower Mainland and Capital Region.
This new Surrey Police Service (SPS) will require, once operational, a minimum of 850 (probably closer to 1,000) officers. The RCMP, from the beginning of this transition process, have reassured their members that they are a priority posting to which we are already seeing those transfers out occur. The current Surrey RCMP members have been canvassed and it was determined to be unlikely that even 10% of those canvassed would consider transferring to the SPS. Currently at issue for those considering employment with SPS are the undetermined wages, losses in pension portability (case-by-case basis) and the lack of clarity regarding role and rank for personnel.
So why is this an issue for you in your municipality? Firstly, Surrey is the largest RCMP detachment, and there has never been a transition of this size before anywhere in Canada.
Further, there has not been a proper feasibility study or a cost benefit analysis that would support and establish the impact that the transition will have on Surrey, the region, or the Province as a whole. The question remains if, and how, the transition will destabilize public safety from a variety of areas including recruitment, cost, and the overall integrated network.
On July 8, 2020, the Provincial government struck a Special Committee of the Legislature to review the BC Police Act after 45 years. The committee was given until May 14, 2021 to submit their recommendations to modernize the Police Act. This includes fundamental shifts in how policing is to be conducted in BC with renewed oversight to correct systemic racism, addressing social issues such as mental health, addiction, and harm reduction. Recommendations have already been discussed regarding Police Boards including the role of local government and removing Mayors as the Board Chair.
Of note, on February 8, 2021, the only member of the SPS Board with any policing experience and co-author of the Surrey Police Transition Report, announced his sudden departure from the Board. This leaves the SPS Board without any historical or fundamental knowledge of policing in British Columbia and presents a further risk amid a changing Act.
Recruiting, hiring and retention of police officers, is a challenge in BC and throughout North America. As hiring officers becomes more difficult, we are seeing cities in other jurisdictions offer significant signing bonuses on a case-by- case basis, which will require cities to counter-offer in order to retain their experienced officers. Policing costs, that are already increasing, will only be exacerbated by these new staffing and budget pressures, as policing costs continue to rise. We know that the initial start-up of SPS is based on recruiting experienced officers. The high cost of relocating personnel into the lower mainland will be a barrier for most people, which will result in additional pressure to recruit at the local level. This has been demonstrated already with senior executives of the SPS being hired from neighbouring cities.
All non-RCMP police training in BC is done at the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) – a provincially funded institution. Currently, the JIBC is just keeping up with the need of the current municipal police departments. While the provincial government, through the Ministry of Public Safety and the Solicitor General, has given tacit approval of the transition, the Treasury Board has not yet seen the need to increase the funding to the JIBC to accommodate this human resource need. Regardless, these new recruits will not be able to meet the skills, knowledge and local expertise required and therefore it is inevitable that there will be recruitment through other police departments.
Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner (OPCC): On February 2, 2021, the Police Complaints Commission made a plea to the Select Standing Committee on Finance & Government Services to increase provincial funding by 45% to the OPCC to underwrite the expected impact of the Surrey Police Transition.
These costs for the Surrey RCMP are currently borne by the federal government, but after the transition, they will be covered by the Province. There will also be a significant ask for capital costs that are yet to be determined.
The Surrey Police Transition will financially impact all British Columbia cities that are policed by the RCMP. RCMP divisional administrative costs are shared cost among all RCMP jurisdictions. With the removal of approximately 850 RCMP members positions from Surrey (approx. 15% of RCMP in BC), these costs will be redistributed amongst the remaining RCMP detachments in the Province. The financial impact of the Surrey Police Transition has yet to be determined, but regardless, it will be an additional cost burden for every municipality.
In closing, all polling, including Surrey’s own consultation process, has demonstrated that the residents support the RCMP remaining in Surrey, particularly in the middle of an ongoing pandemic. The list of the unknown consequences is ever growing and worrisome, particularly when this may all be reversed by the next local government election in Surrey. Recently, in considering the option to transition police, both Richmond and Red Deer completed a public, third party feasibility study and elected to stay with the RCMP. We ask that you require the provincial government to commission the necessary feasibility and impact study of the Surrey Police Transition to ensure that it does not negatively impact your community, the region, or destabilize public safety in British Columbia.
Please do not hesitate to contact either Cllr. Jack Hundial at 604-340-9561 (jack.hundial@surrey.ca) or Cllr. Brenda Locke at 604-340-8607 (brenda.locke@surrey.ca).
Kind regards,
Cllr. Jack Singh Hundial Cllr. Brenda Locke
Cllr. Hundial is a retired RCMP officer with 25 years experience. Cllr. Brenda Locke is a former MLA and Minister of State.
