British Columbia Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth speaks during a Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Ministers press conference in Ottawa on March 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
VICTORIA – A decision is due today on who will police the Metro Vancouver city of Surrey: the RCMP or the municipal Surrey Police Service.
British Columbia Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the government has reached a decision on which law enforcement agency it will approve after months of difficult deliberations.
The city had hired numerous policing staff and even a new chief for the Surrey Police Service when voters elected a mayor and several councillors last fall who opposed the change.
Mayor Brenda Locke campaigned on the promise to move back to the RCMP, saying it will be less expensive, but both the RCMP and the Surrey Police Service are currently working in the city.
The B.C. government had previously approved the switch to the municipal force, and now it has to reveal if the city can reverse the decision.
Opposition BC United Leader Kevin Falcon says he lacked information from the government to make a decision on which police force to support, while Green Leader Sonia Furstenau says whatever the decision is, not everyone will be pleased and it will be expensive.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2023.
