Tomorrow will mark an historic milestone in Canada's largest-ever policing transition as the Surrey Police Service replaces the Surrey RCMP as the city's police of jurisdiction. Still, the transition is still expected to not be completed until 2026/26 but Friday, Nov. 29 is the day the torch gets passed from Surrey Mounties who, since May 1, 1951 have been the city's official police force.
On Friday, the storied Surrey RCMP will slip into the past and become a provincial RCMP unit supporting the SPS as it continues to grow its ranks, which today stands at 446 officers and 73 city employees.
"Also important is that on Nov. 29 there will be in excess of 400 civilians that will transfer over to the SPS," Chief Constable Norm Lipinski, in charge of the SPS, noted at a Surrey Police Board meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 27. "These civilians are working in Surrey detachment and they will become the employees of the police board."
Surrey council under former mayor Doug McCallum at its inaugural meeting on Nov. 5th, 2018 served notice to the provincial and federal governments it would end its contract with the RCMP to set up its own police force, resulting in an acrimonious six-year conflict between proponents and opponents of the transition.
It's building up in three phases, with the first phase being a "blended" SPS-RCMP force under the command of Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards from Nov. 29, 2021 to Nov. 28, 2024. The second phase begins tomorrow with the change of command and new SPS/provincial police model, and finally the third phase will see the transition's "estimated" completion in 2026/27.
Earlier this month the Now-Leader revealed Surrey Police Service “front-line” uniformed officers will patrol Whalley and Newton while their RCMP counterparts cover South Surrey, Cloverdale, Fleetwood and Guildford as the SPS ramps up its ranks. The next district the SPS will take on is South Surrey "sometime" in 2025 as the new police force continues to build up.
"Our members being deployed on the front line, they are substantially about 50 per cent of the front line. They've done great work out there," Lipinski said during Wednesday's meeting. "What I'm talking about is great investigations, also talking about great community engagement and great ideas of how to make things better, how to move policing along."
He said the SPS will be taking on "in excess" of 20 programs that are city-wide.
"Remember that the RCMP are still going to be here for a number of years because they have to demobilize, we have to mobilize," Lipinski said. "What that means is hire and place them – our members – into strategic positions whether it's the front line or if it's investigative and their members will move to other detachments whether in B.C. or across the country. This takes a bit of time and it's important to recognize for some of the RCMP members, they have to move their families so obviously a lot of planning goes into that and we want to have a gradual transition, we want to ensure that we take care of the wellness of the SPS members, the RCMP members and therefore that mitigates any chance of things that perhaps may go sideways on us and we've really looked at all the possibilities and we've mitigated what we've seen and so again, I have very good confidence it's starting on Nov. 29, it will be a smooth transition."
Nothing will change on the first day as far as how people contact the police – the emergency and non-emergency phone numbers – stay the same but the branding on the police buildings will change over to SPS while "business continuity continues forward.
"I'm very, very confident that public safety will not be jeopardized and that we will smoothly transition over to the SPS," Lipinski said. "Buildings stay the same, the branding changes but the contact and the access for the public stays the same.
"It doesn't matter what the stripe is, the public can expect the same level of service, continuity of service, throughout Surrey and we will be supporting each other throughout the entire map area, which is really six town centres."
The City of Surrey has leased 10 city-owned properties – including the RCMP detachment building in Newton – to the Surrey Police Board for $1 over five years as part of the process. "That will make us the holder of those buildings and of course the RCMP will be housed in those areas as well and we're working collaboratively with them as far as where they may be situated, where we will be situated because of course we will be moving into the main detachment," Lipinski said.
As far as continuity of services, Lipinski said, there will be a "fluid, collective" policing response, community programs and supports will be maintained, ongoing investigations won't be interrupted and there will be "secure transfer of evidence and information."
He said a joint committee looking at "how to best do that."
"We have to remember that in any police agency when we're talking about investigative files, the investigators they do retire, they do get transferred, they do move on in life and so there is a semblance of a protocol, a process of how to do file transfer. Obviously some of these files continue on for years and so what we are doing with the RCMP is establishing a process, a very tight process, that will ensure that there is a continuity of that file from an investigative perspective."
Worthy to note, the chief constable added, is that the SPS is also partnering with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, Emergency Response Team and other integrated teams. "More to come on that early in the new year," he added. "We will be contributing to those teams some time in 2025."
"We are ready, we feel confident," Lipinski reiterated.
A financial report before the board has total SPS expenditures in the provisional budget at $141,511,053 with the 2024 forecast for net spending at $111,778,926. Surrey council had approved $222 million to be split between the RCMP and SPS. The SPS's largest area of expenditure – about 91 per cent of its regular ongoing operating costs – was on salaries and benefits with its average monthly expenditures now at $7.8 million whereas in June it was $7 million.
The story of Surrey's policing transition is not without irony. Surrey was on a roll in the 1950s and the push for infrastructure and a growing population meant an increased need for services here. And so on May 1, 1951, as a result of a plebiscite, the RCMP replaced the Surrey Police Force and the municipality entered into a cost-sharing agreement with the feds.
Sixty-seven years later, with Surrey’s population being vastly larger than it was back then, a movement took root to reverse that decision with former mayor Doug McCallum as its intellectual author.
The Surrey RCMP – Canada's largest RCMP detachment – had drawn heat in recent years for gang violence on the city's streets, fueled by the illegal drug trade and as the 2018 civic election approached the fate of its contract became a major campaign issue.
“I think they having a hard time addressing all the gun violence that’s going on,” McCallum told the Now-Leader prior to the 2018 election. “They don’t seem to be able to address these things. I live in South Surrey, near Crescent Beach, and you know I never see the RCMP, to be honest. We really need to get a police force that is in our communities, live in our communities and stay.”
Also, a grassroots group called Wake Up Surrey took on the cause toward eradicating gang violence here.
Lipinski told the board on Nov. 27 that people participating in the SPS public consultation program expressed concern about the "B.C. gang conflict" and "having police officers being available and responsive and certainly very much there seems to be a strong, strong desire for police visibility and when we drill down to that, that means that our police officers to stop in at recreation areas and say hello to the young people that are playing soccer or baseball or football. There was a strong leaning towards working with our youth."
He said the SPS in that regard is developing a youth engagement program that should be "ready to go" by early 2025.
"Dovetailing that of course is the anti-gang program and I want to put a lot of emphasis on that. We have to, to the best of our ability, ensure that young people are set up to succeed and make the right choices in life and we have a lot of ideas of how we can facilitate that to the extent possible."
This was Mike Serr's last meeting as administrator of the Surrey Police Board as a new board is expected to be struck in January. On Nov. 16, 2023, the provincial government appointed Serr, a retired Abbotsford Police chief, as its temporary administrator.
"The government has taken this extraordinary step to ensure the policing transition can be completed efficiently and effectively," the SPB website states. "During this time, all board members’ appointments will be paused and they will resume their roles once the Province determines that the work of the Administrator is complete."
The date of the next board meeting has not yet been set. Serr took his leave Wednesday.
"Now the buck stops with you," he told Lipinski. "I'm very happy that a new board will be in place at some point early in the new year and we'll certainly make sure they're prepared to take on the challenges that lay ahead for them.
"This is my last meeting," Serr announced. "It's been an absolute privilege. It's not always been easy but you learn a lot about people's character in the most difficult and challenging times and I've learned that SPS is built on resilience, strength and character and to be able to walk with you has been nothing short of something that I will always remember."
A press conference is set for Friday, Nov. 29 at the new Surrey Police Service Headquarters (former Surrey RCMP detachment building in Newton) at 1:30 p.m., when Lipinski will be joined by Public Safety Minister Garry Begg, Mayor Brenda Locke, and Assistant Commissioner John Brewer, criminal operations officer – Core Policing for the BC RCMP.
"Following a traditional welcome and blessing from Chief Chappell on behalf of the Semiahmoo First Nation, the speakers will provide brief comments on this historic change in policing in the City of Surrey," Staff Sergeant Lindsey Houghton said. "Please note, this event will not be a formal “Change of Command” ceremony. That event will likely take place sometime in early 2025."
