See letter to the Hon. Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General from one of our residents regarding replacing the RCMP in Surrey as the police service of choice. This letter is provided for your information only.
9th February 2019
Hon. Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General
Room 128 Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Dear Mr. Farnworth,
The Safe Surrey Coalition’s election platform in the fall of 2018 stated: “A local police force is a public safety issue, first and foremost.” Then in December 2018 Mr. McCallum changed his mind and stated Surrey is no longer safe. Rather Surrey is “very, very safe.” The January crime report confirmed that crime was indeed down in Surrey. This shows RCMP are doing a very, very good job, even as Mr. McCallum has voted to keep them understaffed. The safety issue is now officially off the table in Surrey.
Mr. McCallum’s new mantra immediately became one of “governance.” Governance? Surrey already has a very good governance model. It is called the Public Safety Committee.
So why does Doug McCallum want a new police board? Perhaps it goes back to his previous tenure as mayor in 2002. Mr. McCallum wanted to gag the RCMP by pressuring them to withhold news about crime in Surrey. The RCMP responded by saying if the public needed to know about something they were putting it out. Former Surrey councilor Bob Bose said the city has a “serious problem” if press releases have to be cleared by the mayor.
Governance was not part of the Safe Surrey Coalition’s election platform. The quick change to the governance mantra would indicate governance was Mr. McCallum’s hidden agenda from the beginning.
This amounts to bait and switch. Doug MacCallum campaigned on the fear card. After the election, he switched to the governance card. He has totally misled the people of Surrey.
Mr. McCallum has stated the Surrey police force would cost a bit more. No figures have ever been given.
According to the BC Police Resource Guide, the cost of policing in Vancouver is $250 per capita per year greater than in Surrey. By 2020 that would work out to an annual operating cost of about $100 million or more per year for Surrey. Transition costs have been estimated up to $125 million.
Bottom Line? Surrey will spend 100’s of millions of dollars for a new governance model that is not broken.
Bringing the RCMP manpower up so they can better do their job would cost a lot less and serve the residents better than McCallum’s approach.
Transition planning is being run out of the mayor’s office
The councilors have very little to do with the transition process. This means the public is not being fully represented at the planning table.
TransLink’s engineering study for the Surrey line will take 15 months.
The policing transition process is speeding along like a runaway train. What is the hurry? Citizens are safe. A governance model is in place that is very transparent and working very well.
There is a need for a transparent and thorough review of this issue. The road map used by Richmond on a police transition would allow Surrey residents a voice in this very important issue.
Anything you can do to make that happen will be a huge benefit for Surrey residents.
Signed (Resident Name)