City of Surrey refusing to share police deliberations report, B.C. government says

CTV News has obtained a letter sent by Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth to Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke requesting a copy of Surrey’s corporate report ahead of its policing decision.

The report, compiled by city officials, would be the document used by councillors to make the final decision on keeping the RCMP or continuing the transition to a municipal force.

Farnworth says his office was informed that city staff were told not to provide the report to the ministry ahead of time.

“This information sharing is critical to ensure that the corporate report drafted by city staff for council’s consideration adequately addresses the mandatory conditions, requirements (and) financial implications, including full costing and other relevant implications for each police model to ensure safe and effective policing in Surrey,” reads the minister’s letter.

There is a long list of conditions that the city must meet, something the minister worries won’t be properly addressed in the city’s report.

“It is troubling from a public safety perspective that ministry officials are prevented an opportunity to provide advice regarding the suitability of the proposed plan to meet the mandatory and non-negotiable conditions. It is also contrary to the good faith that ministry officials and city staff have been operating in to ensure that all relevant information is presented to council to make an informed decision,” reads the minister’s letter.

The conditions include not hiring RCMP officers from other Canadian communities.

The minister sent his letter June 13, nearly two weeks after an initial letter urging Locke to make a final decision.

"We want to make sure council has all the information understanding all the implications prior to them making a decision,” he told CTV News in an interview.

"The city wants to transition back to the RCMP and we've made it clear there are those conditions that they are required to fill that are non-negotiable, they are binding and must be met. That's why that report is so important.”

The letter also says that all Surrey council members have signed and returned a confidentiality agreement to the province. It allows councillors to read a minimally redacted policing recommendation report compiled by the province April 28.

RCMP assistant commissioner Brian Edwards was not available for an interview, instead sending a statement.

“We respect the processes underway as the City of Surrey works to confirm their next steps in regards to the policing transition following the provincial announcement on April 28, 2023,” he said.

City Coun. Linda Annis confirms a decision may not be made by next Monday’s council meeting, but that Locke did acknowledge a final decision by the end of the month.

"This is not a message that I think we should be sending to the province, this is the biggest decision that we will ever make as a city,” said Annis.

The lengthy back and forth is something a local accountant says is only hurting taxpayers' pockets.

“It’s a disaster. I was just looking at my own property tax bill it went up by 12 per cent last year, 13 per cent this year, so 25 per cent in total,” said Aseem Ghadiali, the owner of Advinor CPA Limited in Surrey.

“I just had a recent conversation with one client who said she doesn’t have the money to pay so much more property tax,” he said. “I would not be surprised if the City of Surrey has an increased cost in collections as well.”

TRANSITION CONDITIONS

If council votes to keep the RCMP, the city would be required to hire a strategic implementation advisor for the reversion.

It would also have to develop individualized human resources plans for the Surrey Police Service and RCMP and revise its plan to ensure that restaffing Surrey RCMP is not prioritized over filling other RCMP vacancies in the province.

The city would also be obligated to hire an RCMP senior contract officer and a senior transition leader from the BC RCMP who is not currently a part of the Surrey RCMP.

POLICE TRANSITION

The city requested to transition to a municipal police service in November 2018. It was a key election promise of then-mayor Doug McCallum and his Safe Surrey Coalition party.

Current Mayor Brenda Locke campaigned on the promise to keep the RCMP, and Surrey city councillors voted 6-3 in December to stop the transition.