B.C. Premier John Horgan says public has right to know what’s in secret Surrey policing report

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Premier John Horgan says the public in B.C.'s second-largest city has a right to know what’s in a municipal report detailing plans to create a new police force; the mayor of Surrey has said he won’t release the report before sending it to the province for review.

The city southeast of Vancouver has launched a process to replace the RCMP within two years, but Mayor Doug McCallum has ruled out public hearings or any form of review on the plan – a stand that has raised concerns from Mr. Horgan, some councillors, and the business community.

On Tuesday, Mr. Horgan said the situation is problematic. “I certainly believe transparency would be the order of the day," he told reporters in Vancouver.

"When you’re making such an extraordinary change in how activity takes place in Surrey, how law enforcement will be conducted, who will be conducting that, I think the public has every right to know that, absolutely.”

However, he is ruling out measures such as blocking Surrey’s plan. In a statement following the Premier’s news conference, a senior spokesperson said it is too early to speculate on approval of Surrey’s policing proposal.

But, Sage Aaron, the Premier’s director of communications, added, “We maintain that public consultation is always a good thing when rolling out major changes, particularly those that impact the safety of communities."

Surrey’s policing shift was an election commitment of Mr. McCallum. On the campaign trail last year, Mr. McCallum and members of his Safe Surrey Coalition promised to replace the RCMP with a new municipal force, arguing the shift would lead to a better policing service.

Upon being sworn in last November, Mr. McCallum and his team, who won seven of eight council seats, passed a motion to end the city’s contract with the RCMP, which has policed Surrey since 1951, and create a new municipal force within two years.

The city has assigned a general manager to figure out the best way to engineer the shift in Surrey, but the report is not yet finished.

Mike Larsen, co-chair of the criminology department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, said re-imagining the police force without meaningful public input is “undemocratic,” adding in a statement that even rezoning property requires a public hearing. “If you step back and consider this, it seems bizarre that subdividing a lot involves a more transparent and consultative process than overhauling the police force."

Four of the eight members of council indicated, in response to questions from The Globe and Mail, that they would support the public having access to details now on the policing plan.

Linda Annis earlier this month called for openness. A representative of the councilor cited a March 4 news release in which she said the new police force should be created “in full view of the community, and not behind closed doors at city hall."

In order to give the public a say, Jack Hundial, a former Surrey Mountie, called for town halls, online submissions and mail-in questionnaires.

Brenda Locke, a former BC Liberal member of the legislature, wrote, “Certainly policing is an important, once-in-a-generation decision that requires the public to be engaged in the process.”

But other councilors echoed Mayor McCallum’s stand that the election was a referendum on the issue that cleared the winning council to proceed with reform.

Anita Huberman, chief executive officer of the Surrey Board of Trade – which opposes ousting the RCMP – said Mr. McCallum and council have been discussing policing issues with anecdotes and hearsay, but without formal statistics or details.

She said the board has been unable to get a meeting with the mayor. “Unfortunately the matter is closed with mayor and council,” she said.

“It is such a significant, mind-blowing shift for the city of Surrey and also for the RCMP, too,” Ms. Huberman said, adding there needs to be a public dialogue plan that includes options such as community roundtables.