Surrey Police Service officially takes over from the RCMP after years-long saga

A Surrey police department logo is seen on an officer's jacket in Surrey, B.C., Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The years-long saga over who will police the city of Surrey has reached its final chapter.

As of midnight Friday, the Surrey Police Service has officially taken over.

“We're proud to be able to serve the citizens of Surrey, and we took over from a great legacy of policing and public safety from the RCMP, who policed Surrey for 73 years,” said Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, media relations officer for the SPS Friday morning.

The process began in 2018, when former mayor Doug McCallum proposed the municipal force during the first council meeting of his second term in office.

Four years later, McCallum lost re-election to Brenda Locke, who had initially been elected as a councillor under his Safe Surrey Coalition.

Locke campaigned on reversing the transition which landed her in a very public and heated conflict with the then-public safety minister, Mike Farnworth. The mayor accused Farnworth of bullying her and misogyny.

After months of uncertainty, Farnworth used his authority to force the city to move forward with the Surrey Police Service.

The municipality also lost a bid to have the decision reversed by the B.C. Supreme Court.

Houghton says he is proud of the work the Mounties did, adding the SPS plans to honour their legacy in what he calls “a new era for the city of Surrey.”

Houghton says he has no concerns about working with the current mayor and council despite the controversy.

“Our relationship is good, and in fact, I think you'll see the mayor today at our press conference,” he told CTV News. 

McCallum says he has no regrets about the contentious process.

“This is not just about policing; it’s about building a safer, stronger city. The SPS will make Surrey great again by providing the kind of modern, responsive and localized policing that our growing city deserves. This is a proud day for everyone who believes in a better future for Surrey,” wrote McCallum in a new release Friday morning. 

Surrey Police Service officers have been working alongside the RCMP since 2021. As of Friday, the municipal force will have the leadership role.

“The RCMP will switch to a supportive role, and they're going to be still there for a couple of years, until they scale down and we continue to hire and scale up. So we will be out in the community. We will be more or less concentrated on the western side of Surrey. The RCMP will be on the eastern side,” said Norm Lipinski, Chief Constable of the Surrey Police Service in an interview with CTV Morning Live.

He expects the full transition to be complete in the next year or two.

The new municipal force will initially be responsible for the neighbourhoods of Whalley and Newton and more than 20 city-wide programs, representing more than 50 per cent of the overall workload in the city. The RCMP will continue to cover the rest of Surrey while more municipal officers are hired and trained to take over.

Lipinski said his officers plan to expand their coverage area to South Surrey next year.

The SPS has hired 446 officers, but needs 785 to fully take over from the RCMP.

Headquarters as well as key contact numbers will stay the same, though signs with new SPS branding have now gone up across the city.

"I am very, very confident that public safety will not be jeopardized. We will smoothly transition over to the SPS," said Lipinski.

Houghton says a seamless transition is the number one priority for the SPS.

“If you phone 911, a police officer, regardless of what badge they carry, will come in and help you,” said Houghton.

He says a lot of the work going on behind the scenes has to do with files that are currently under investigation by the RCMP.

Houghton says in most cases those files will remain with the RCMP provincial transitional operations team, and in some cases the SPS will support.

“In some rare cases, we may see a handover depending on the complexity of the file,” said Houghton.

However, he’s adamant that the focus will be avoiding gaps in investigations. 

A formal change-of-command ceremony is expected next year, but officials including Lipinski, Solicitor General Garry Begg, Locke and RCMP Assistant Commissioner John Brewer are holding a news conference Friday afternoon.

With files from The Canadian Press