Surrey RCMP blocking deployment of 33 municipal officers ahead of transition decision, councillors say

Surrey Police Service officers are seen in this undated image. (Surrey Police Service/Facebook)

Two Surrey city councillors are accusing the mayor and the local RCMP detachment of blocking the deployment of 33 experienced police officers hired by the city's fledgling municipal force.

Councillors Doug Elford and Mandeep Nagra, both members of former mayor Doug McCallum's Safe Surrey Coalition, accused current Mayor Brenda Locke of stalling the officers' deployment for political reasons.

Transitioning Surrey from the RCMP to a municipal force was McCallum's signature campaign promise when he was elected in 2018. Keeping the RCMP in Surrey and halting the transition to the new Surrey Police Service was Locke's key promise when she defeated McCallum in last year's election.

"The SPS was created to replace the broken RCMP model and to bring more boots on the ground to Surrey's streets," Elford and Nagra said in a statement Monday.

"Unfortunately, the RCMP is now blocking the deployment of experienced SPS officers, putting politics over the safety of Surrey residents."

Speaking to CTV News on Monday, Locke said it's Elford and Nagra who are playing politics ahead of an expected decision from the provincial government this week on the future of policing in the city.

"Councillors Nagra and Elford, I believe, are just playing mischief," Locke said. "They know full well that the decision will be made this week, and they are trying to do political mischief to interfere in that."

The mayor also asserted that the 33 officers Nagra and Elford were referring to "are not in the (human resources) plan" and "never were."

The SPS disputes that assertion. Spokesperson Ian MacDonald told CTV News in an email that the Surrey RCMP had elected not to accept more than two dozen experienced officers hired by the municipal police service for deployment.

MacDonald said the joint human resources plan calls for 35 SPS officers to be deployed in January, March and May of this year, but only 32 of the expected 70 have been deployed so far.

"SPS currently has 33 officers who are fully trained, experienced (averaging over 9 years of policing experience) and ready to be deployed as per that agreement," he said.

"These officers were hired to be deployed, they want to be deployed and are being paid. Currently, we have tasked them with other responsibilities within SPS, but they were intended to be deployed into frontline policing duties."

Asked for a response, Surrey RCMP provided CTV News with a statement from Asst. Comm. Brian Edwards, the officer in charge of the detachment.

In it, Edwards notes that the provincial government has promised a decision on the future of the police transition by the end of this month. That decision "will guide next steps in regards to staffing," he said, adding that Surrey RCMP is currently "fully staffed."

Asked for clarification, the detachment said in an email that it "can't speak to the SPS's continued hiring," but added that the combined number of SPS and RCMP officers is currently 734, which is the number called for in the plan.

In their statement, Elford and Nagra accused the RCMP and Locke of jeopardizing public safety by limiting the deployment of SPS officers.

"If we want to prevent more incidents of violent crime, we need more boots on the ground patrolling our streets," said Nagra, in the statement.

"The broken RCMP model has fewer boots on the ground, and the recent incidents of violence demonstrate that we need more resources to keep our city safe."

Despite recent, high-profile incidents on public transit in the city, Edwards forcefully disputed the notion that public safety has been affected by the police transition.

"Public safety has been our primary focus throughout the transition and remains our top priority," Edwards said.

He noted that RCMP and SPS officers work side by side in the city and have been collaborating with other agencies to increase patrols at transit hubs in recent weeks.

"Through collective efforts, violent crime decreased in 2022 and is down 14 per cent so far in 2023," Edwards said. "Claims to the contrary are a blatant attempt to generate public fear, and disrespectful to all those impacted by the incidents, the judicial processes underway, and all officers working in Surrey."