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A couple of weeks later, Terry Waterhouse was appointed general manager of policing transition. At the time, Waterhouse said he planned to appoint a team of experts to a transition team. McCallum said last month that Surrey had asked for help from Vancouver city staff and police officials to develop its model.

There have been few public updates on the work that the city is doing.

Larsen said changing the policing model in Surrey will be no small task and will require a great deal of discussion and input from the public and community groups. Although work has been done behind the scenes on designing a new force, he said there is more that can be done to make the process public.

“I want to see that conversation, I want to see a lot of people at the table and I want to see a plan in terms of what exactly we’re looking for,” he said. “We need a much more transparent process.”

Bob Rolls, the former deputy chief constable of the Vancouver Police Department, was involved in conducting a review when Richmond was contemplating a municipal force.

Rolls said Surrey has an ambitious timeline, and while he believes it is achievable, he said there should be a contingency plan in case it cannot be met.

He expects Surrey will bring a plan forward soon, and there will be a better opportunity to see what kind of work has taken place and debate whether it has been properly thought out.

Rolls agreed, however, that keeping the public informed is important.

“It’s hard to argue against public dialogue and making sure that people know what’s actually taking place — what the discussions are — and some of that is missing right now,” he said.