It's cruise season and my thoughts on the police transition

We are finally having wonderful weather.  I have a friend going to Alaska today for 10 days and my daughter and son-in-law are boarding a ship today in California and sailing to Vancouver via San Francisco, Astoria and Victoria.  I'm on teenager duty and at 18 it's more of a sleep over and make sure the cats get fed.  

I watched the police announcement yesterday and I am 100% behind Brenda Locke, our mayor.  She's right, its politics not safety.  I hope Brenda keeps the RCMP as everyone I know doesn't want the SPS.  It's not a matter of who is better, it's taxes that are being charged to the business and property taxes to fund this change.  

We get $20 million every year from the federal government.  The province offered us $30 million a year for five years and we lose the $20 million.  Who pays the huge cost after five years, the tax payers? 

In the calculation of $30 million of additional costs with the SPS, they left out:

• the 100 officers that are being added in four years
• the IT infrastructure that's needed
• the gun range for the officers training
• SPS union agreement says two officers must ride together.  What does that do to help us?  |Now RCMP officers ride alone and call for help if they need it. 

The province keeps saying we are giving up $150 million BC Tax Dollars if we keep the RCMP.  Yes, we need to pay $72 million in severance and then the extra costs will end.  The difference is $78 million and we will get $20 million every year from the feds.  

If I lived in another city in British Columbia, I would be upset my tax dollars are being used for a city.   If other cities or municipalities want to transition from the RCMP, does the BC Government fund them too?

Minister Farnworth had this transition studied and his staff prepared a 500 page report.  He held up a copy of the report yesterday at his press conference.  One thing we did learn from the minister was the numbers given by keeping the RCMP in Surrey that were audited by Deloitte, were right.  That was good to hear.  The Mayor of Surrey never received a copy of this report.  She asked for one just before the announcement and when she received it, the document was heavily redacted!  How is she suppose to make a decision from this redacted report?

Four years ago Minister Farnsworth didn't ask for a business plan or cost/benefit analysis.  He gave the green light to proceed with the change.  He only requested these documents last November and it's taken five months for this decision.  If he did his due diligence four years ago and asked for those documents, we wouldn't be in this predicament.  

There was never a business plan, Mayor McCallum just pulled the numbers out of the air.  He didn't know he couldn't keep the RCMP IT infrastructure.  He offered every officer who joined the SPS a $50,000 signing bonus, paid the SPS the highest wages in Canada and signed a severance agreement we need to live with.  

I blame Minister Farnsworth for this boondoggle.  They should have done a cost/benefit analysis and the citizens a referendum to vote either way four years ago.  I'm sure the next provincial election will cost the NDP in Surrey their seats.