In a rare interview, the RCMP's top officers in B.C. sat down with CTV News to reflect on the events of the last year and the challenges still ahead.
The discussion ranged from gangs and guns to Surrey's move to dump the force in favour of city police.
Mounties in B.C.'s second-largest city have been under the microscope this year, with recently-elected Mayor Doug McCallum saying Surrey's outgrown the RCMP.
But the province's top cop says she's seen no evidence to support that.
"The service that we're providing is incredible. And not only operationally but also certainly from a proactive approach," Deputy Commissioner Brenda Butterworth-Carr told CTV News.
On Monday, Surrey City Council voted in favour of a budget that includes, among other cost-saving measures, stopping a plan to hire 12 new Mounties. Butterworth-Carr says the RCMP wouldn't have asked for additional members if it felt they weren't needed.
"And when we don't receive those investments, it makes it challenging. We have to go back and redefine what we deliver on," she said.
The commanding officer praised existing members for their efforts, which include working with other partners to house the homeless on 135A Street, known for decades as the Surrey Strip.
Surrey and the rest of the Lower Mainland has been plagued by gun and gang violence in 2018. However, Assistant Commissioner Kevin Hackett says B.C.'s approach to dealing with the issue is "cutting edge."
"We believe that we're using the resources that we have available to us to be truly intelligence-led, to be truly targeting the most violent individuals that are causing the greatest risk to public safety," he said.
Hackett added that the fact that so many guns have been seized means police are doing their job.
"We've seized probably over 200 handguns – not just handguns, serious weaponry, submachine guns – off the streets.
As the force looks ahead to 2019, Butterworth-Carr believes one of the biggest challenges Mounties will face is the ongoing opioid crisis and how to stop it.
The latest numbers released by the BC Coroners Service, which showed an average of 4.3 people died of illicit drug overdose per day in B.C. in the month of September. The report, which was updated last month, said the highest number of overdoses this year have occurred in Vancouver and Surrey.
Of the 1,143 people who died of illicit drug overdose in B.C. in the first nine months of the year, 162 were in Surrey. Vancouver had seen 297 deaths as of Sept. 30.
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Michele Brunoro
