In a press release on Thursday, the union said Brenda Locke’s claims that officers and civilian staff would be taken care of if the municipal force could be disbanded demonstrated a “disconnect” between Surrey Police Service (SPS) and city hall. After her swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Locke said she had already met with Surrey RCMP and was assured SPS personnel would have the opportunity to join them or other RCMP detachments. “I’ve spoken directly with the RCMP and they have a program to escalate SPS officers,” Locke said Monday. “We absolutely believe that every police officer is important and we will take care of them.” But union president Rick Stewart says 275 of the 295 front-line officers have signed a pledge saying they have “no intention of applying or joining any RCMP detachment.” Part of the pledge describes the RCMP’s work environment as “toxic” and deplores “the lack of local decision-making, the instability of staying in Surrey and the absence of accountability.” “The attractiveness of working for a Surrey-based municipal police force remains one of the main factors behind our successful recruitment to date,” said Stewart. The transition to Surrey Police Service began last year after the province gave former mayor Doug McCallum the go-ahead to form a municipal force. Stewart says Locke’s plan does not address the concerns of members of the Surrey Police Service. But he said the union remained open to “collaboration, transparency and accountability to support the best interests of the people of Surrey”.
The attorney general says he needs to see a plan
BC Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said Thursday there is a lot of work to do to stop the replacement of the RCMP. “I need to see a plan from the City of Surrey as to how they intend to do this, as well as from the RCMP in terms of how they intend to re-staff,” he said. On Monday, Locke said City of Surrey staff have already begun working on a report on how the transition disruption would work. He said the plan will be made public and, once finalized, will be submitted to BC’s attorney general by the end of the month. Surrey Police Service takes significant exception to people who use Twitter to engage in personal attacks against our officers, and even worse, their families. 1/2 —@surreyps On Sunday, Surrey Police Service said members had suffered online attacks, which Farnworth described as “despicable”. “No workplace should become a toxic environment and everyone deserves a respectful workplace,” he said.
