'High risk, low reward': critics slam Surrey mayor's policing PR campaign

Mayor Brenda Locke's latest tactic in her fight to keep the RCMP in Surrey is an advertising campaign that’s reportedly costing taxpayers roughly $500,000.

Billboards have been spotted in the city and mailers have been sent to residents, including Coun. Linda Annis, who is not a member of the mayor's party.

"To me, it’s very misleading, it's political advertising and shouldn't be coming out from city hall,” said Annis.

“This is what the taxpayers are paying for? This is not good use of taxpayer dollars. We don’t have, in the city of Surrey, $500,000 to spare on this kind of advertising,” she added.

She says the mailers lack transparency, as they don’t openly show they’re from Surrey city hall. Instead they point to a website which has the municipal logo in the bottom left corner.

"The NDP are trying to force the City of Surrey to accept an expensive, disorganized police transition that will do nothing to improve public safety," the website says.

The campaign comes on the heels of the provincial government ordering Surrey to continue the transition to a municipal police force. The city has filed a petition for a judicial review in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, alleging the province overstepped its authority by doing so.

Locke, when asked on Tuesday, defended the move.

"It's to educate the public and let them know the cost of the transition. So, yes it is working in terms of people's knowledge," she said.

However, campaign strategist Allie Blades says could be a costly miscalculation on Locke's part.

"It's misleading, and it's not transparent,” she said. “That should be the number one thing that people take away from this message: it's taxpayer dollars being used for an election issue. It’s high risk, low reward.”

Blades also believes the move was a decision made in desperation.

"She doesn't have the confidence in the city of surrey residents who are on her side therefore she has to spend thousands of dollars to get the message across."

B.C.'s Public Safety Ministry disputes the claims being made by the campaign.

“The City of Surrey’s claim that it will cost Surrey taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars over the next 10 years is false and misleading,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“A plan has been in place right from the beginning of the transition, which was refined and further developed by all parties throughout the process. For the City of Surrey to say a plan doesn’t exist is inaccurate.”

The province has promised up to $150 million to help with transition-related costs.