Friday, April 28, 2023

Surrey Policing and Impacting on Policing in Langley City

As you may know, the provincial government announced the steps and conditions for Surrey to continue its transition to the Surrey Police Service and also the conditions to transition back to the Surrey RCMP.

One of the significant concerns expressed by Surrey Council was the cost of traditioning to the Surrey Police Service. The provincial government has come to the table with the financial support to complete the transition. The province will not provide financial support to transition back to the RCMP.

I would usually not comment on policing in Surrey, but if Surrey did transition back to RCMP, it would destabilize policing in Metro Vancouver.

We have vacant positions for RCMP members throughout Metro Vancouver, including in Langley. Due to the pandemic and retirements, the RCMP cannot meet the immediate demand for RCMP members by training recruits alone. The transition to the Surrey Police Service has allowed RCMP members to be reassigned to detachments like Langley to fill vacancies.

If Surrey went back to the RCMP, it would draw away members from detachments throughout BC, and it would also draw recruits creating a prolonged RCMP staff shortage, destabilizing policing.

Continuing the transition to the Surrey Police Service is in the best interest of Langley City businesses and residents.

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