The new force will cost 10.9 per cent more, with operating costs of $192.5 million projected for 2021

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – The City of Surrey has released its plan for a transition from the RCMP to a municipal police force.

The report suggests the Surrey Police force will have funding for 805 officers, compared to the RCMP’s budgeted 843 members. The new force will cost 10.9 per cent more, with operating costs of $192.5 million projected for 2021. The RCMP’s estimated cost in three years is $173.6 million.

Mayor Doug McCallum says that price tag shouldn’t be a surprise.

“I’ve said it probably a thousand times over the last six months, that it would cost more than ten per cent,” he said at a press conference just after the report’s release on Monday, adding he was elected on the issue and voters knew what to expect.

“Our people feel unsafe out there, and they want our own Surrey police force. That’s why we ran and that’s why I’m sitting here today.”

But with more money, Surrey will have fewer police officers on the street. Instead, the five per cent increase in staff will be filled by more civilian positions and Community Safety Personnel.

.@CityofSurrey Mayor Doug McCallum says if RCMP unionize, then there wouldn’t be an annual budget difference between a local police force or sticking with RCMP.

He had promised transitioning wouldn’t cost more than 10% more. Current numbers say it would cost 10.9% more annually pic.twitter.com/8Z7rMk0sGv — Lasia Kretzel (@lkretzel1130) June 3, 2019

McCallum says the new force will save significantly on administration costs. The city currently spends nearly $45 million a year on administration, including $20 million for the RCMP’s E Division headquarters.

The report states Surrey is the only Canadian municipality with over 300,000 residents that doesn’t have a local police force and adopting the model would allow the city to better adapt to the growth it has experienced.

But Surrey City Councillor Linda Annis says she isn’t confident the transition plan will work, and is calling for a referendum on switching forces.

“I think it will be significantly hard to properly police Surrey. We need more officers, officers cost money, and we can’t do it by reducing the number of officers and increasing the number of employees,” Annis says. “Civilians in community policing will not make people in Surrey feel safer. What they need is more officers on the ground. We need to be looking at getting somewhere in the area of 300 police officers.”

She adds current RCMP officers would have to apply for a job with the new force and it’s not a given they would be able to simply transfer.

.@SurreyRCMP clarifying staffing numbers *Says there are 843 Mounties (90% paid by the city, 10% paid by the feds)

*58 of these positions go to Lwr. Mainland Integrated Teams

*RCMP provides 51 additional spots to cover things like mat/sick leave

*City employs 302 muni. workers — Sonia Aslam (@SoniaSAslam) June 3, 2019

McCallum confirms that yes, current Surrey RCMP officers would have to apply for the new force, but says he’s already been approached by officers asking when applications will open.

The publication of the report was stalled in May as the provincial government performed their review. After its release on Monday, B.C. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth told NEWS 1130 in a statement: “I’ve said from the beginning that I thought it was important for the report to be made public for the citizens of Surrey. As already stated, we are in the process of analyzing the details within Surrey’s report and will not be commenting on the individual elements at this time.”

When asked for its response to the report, the Surrey RCMP provided a statement that said, in part: “As the RCMP is a service provider only, we won’t express our opinion or analysis of the City of Surrey’s report, nor is it appropriate for

us to publicly discuss the feasibility of the proposed plan,” and “The RCMP will cooperate fully, and provide input

when requested by the Province.”

The report says the city aims to have the new force in place by April 1 2021.

The full report is available here.