Province reviewing Surrey police plan to ensure it's 'effective and adequate,' minister says

The City of Surrey has made its final decision on which agency will provide police services for it going forward, but the saga that started in 2018 may still not be complete.

B.C. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth issued a statement on the city's decision Friday, hours after Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke announced the city council's intention to dissolve the fledgling Surrey Police Service and keep the Surrey RCMP. 

• Read more: Surrey council votes to keep RCMP, rejecting municipal force

The decision makes good on the promise that 2 the majority of the city council were elected on, but it goes against the recommendation of Farnworth and the B.C. government.

Farnworth's ministry advised the city to continue the transition to the SPS, which was initiated by Locke's predecessor, former mayor Doug McCallum, and the previous council.

The minister's statement Friday does not endorse the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction for Surrey going forward. Rather, it says the ministry will review the city's plan, to ensure it will maintain "effective and adequate policing in Surrey and across B.C."

"Once staff have been able to review the city's report, I will be able to determine if the plan achieves this objective," Farnworth said in the statement.

"We will review all information provided by the city quickly to ensure that the people of Surrey remain safe. We continue to require a comprehensive plan from the city to meet the requirements I laid out as necessary. In the absence of such a plan, this could quickly destabilize an already precarious situation in Surrey and significantly decrease police presence in other areas of the province."

Back in April, when Farnworth announced the province's recommendation that Surrey continue the transition to a municipal force, he said sticking with the RCMP would come with several binding conditions from the province. 

• Read more: B.C. announces decision on Surrey police transition, recommends SPS

Among those conditions were that the city hire a strategic implementation advisor for the process and develop individualized human resources plans for the Surrey Police Service and the RCMP.

The restaffing of Surrey RCMP must not be prioritized over filling other RCMP vacancies elsewhere in the province, according to the ministry.

The city is also obligated to hire an RCMP senior contract officer and a senior transition leader from the BC RCMP. Those roles cannot be filled with people who are currently part of the Surrey RCMP.

"I want to assure the people of Surrey, and all British Columbians, that I will fulfil my duty to keep our communities safe," Farnworth said Friday.

"People in Surrey want to be safe and they want this to be over."