The taxpayer money spent on decalling a city vehicle to look like a police car and making a video with stock photos of American police officers digitally altered to appear to be from Surrey is an unconvincing sales pitch when the city needs real answers, says a city councillor.
Citizens still don’t have specific figures on the cost of the transition from the Surrey RCMP -- and costs could balloon far over Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum’s estimates, said Coun. Linda Annis.
"This is not a good sales pitch when you’re spending other people’s money," said Annis after the mayor’s 2019 State of the City Address.
In the address, McCallum said he believed higher salaries earned by municipal police members would be evened out because RCMP officers are expected to get paid more on a new pay scale, he said.
"I have always said there will be a cost attached and nothing has changed on that front," McCallum said in his address. "My view is that it will be around the 10 per cent range, and I stand by that."
McCallum claimed the force would be patrolling the streets in 2020. He introduced a video that has since been uploaded to a new surreypolice.ca website, with videos and photos that were recognizably of Surrey -- with some notable exceptions.
A female police officer appears in the video with what looks to be a Surrey Police badge. Another male police officer is seen - holding a young child - also with the badge.
The photo of the man has a blank badge, with the picture described as "Close Portrait Smiling Young Father Police Uniform."
The photo of the woman, available at websites including Depositphoto.com, shows a badge with an American flag.
The images can be used for about $60 each, the website’s business pricing plan suggests.
The vehicle that appeared in the Surrey Civic Plaza was newly leased by the city, officials said, and the decals cost a few thousand dollars. It included the call sign "SPD-001" on its bumper.
But the Ford Explorer lacks features including lights and sirens, push bars to protect the front of the vehicle from collisions, and internal security equipment as well.
"It’s missing police officers, for one. Lots of things need to be done before it’s on the road," said former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts. "You can’t change the shoulder badge and have control over a police force."
Watts said she has heard the city is exploring selling city land, taking money from a homeless and housing fund, and diverting funds from other social programs to pay for it.
"It’s hundreds of millions of dollars, no doubt about it," she said.
And Annis said the two forces may have to operate at the same time during the transition, which could increase costs even further.
McCallum said a transition plan is expected to be ready to be sent to the provincial government, which will have cost estimates.
It was supposed to be ready by the end of April. The mayor said it would be ready in a few weeks.
B.C.'s Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth said he had yet to see any hard financial information.
"I guess Surrey is doing what Surrey is doing, but the reality is that we need to see a policing plan. And we’ll go from there," Farnworth said.
Jon Woodward sat down with BTS with CTV News Vancouver host Penny Daflos to talk about the hidden cost of Surrey's police transition plan. You can listen to more here: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/bts-podcast
