Surrey mayor announces legal action in ongoing fight over police transition

The City of Surrey is asking for a judge to review a provincial order that directed the city to continue with the transition to a municipal police force.

The move was announced in a statement Friday, marking the latest development in a years-long controversy over replacing the RCMP as the police force of jurisdiction in the province's largest city.

“My team and I were elected to stop the proposed police transition,” Mayor Brenda Locke said in the statement.

“Surrey simply cannot accept the extraordinary burden that our taxpayers will face as a result of a provincial order that will not deliver any public safety benefit.”

The city has retained Peter German, a lawyer and a former deputy commissioner with the RCMP, to advise on the legal case.

In July, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said the city did not have a plan to scrap the transition that would ensure the preservation of adequate law enforcement resources in the city, putting public safety at risk.

In his own statement Friday, Farnworth described the legal action as "extremely disappointing" and said taxpayers will end up footing the bill for the court case.

"People in Surrey want the uncertainty over who will police their city to end. They want this debate to be over," Farnworth said.

"They want government money spent on protecting their communities instead of on legal fees to continue old fights that have dragged on too long. The decision has been made, and it's time for the city to accept the decision and move forward with the police transition."

Coun. Linda Annis, who is not a member of Brenda Locke's Surrey Connect party, has also issued a statement slamming the move to take legal action, saying it is a stalling tactic and echoing Farnworth's comments about the cost.

“This whole thing isn’t about what’s good for our city, it is clearly about political ego,” Annis said in the statement.

"Can you imagine the time it will take and the millions it will cost to take the province to court over the transition from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service? Clearly, tax dollars don’t mean anything to Brenda Locke.”

At a news conference Friday, Locke was not present. Instead, German took questions from reporters.

"I'm sure the mayor will make herself available at some time on this matter," German said when asked why he was speaking instead of Locke, adding that the mayor would not be available to speak to the matter Friday.

He also said the move to continue to fight to retain the RCMP should not come as a surprise, given that the mayor and her party won a majority on council after campaigning on the promise to halt the transition. 

Asked about the cost, German said it would "pale in comparison" to the cost of continuing the transition to the Surrey Police Service.

The decision to put German up as spokesperson was another move Annis took issue with.

"Taxpayers want to hear from their mayor,” Annis said in her statement.

“Instead, we have a very costly consultant who is stepping into her shoes. Surrey taxpayers are being shortchanged in the leadership department and when all the costs are in, they will be shocked by just how much political ego costs.”

The petition being filed with the court asks it to quash the provincial government's decision directing the city to continue the change to the Surrey Police Service.

It also asks the court to declare the provincial government is “without lawful authority” to assign which force polices the city when the province hasn't provided the resources needed to fulfil the responsibility.

When Farnworth made the policing announcement in July, he committed $150 million to Surrey to help with the transition to the independent force, saying he didn't want those costs to be passed on to residents and businesses.

However, the petition to the court says the transition costs will be much higher.

With files from The Canadian Press