Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke says ‘hidden’ report shows higher costs

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Mayor Brenda Locke leveled another charge Tuesday against the British Columbia government in the bitter Surrey police dispute, saying a “hidden” report reveals an even greater cost to a municipal force than to the RCMP.

But the figures cited by Locke in the report are not an apples-to-apples comparison.

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And British Columbia Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth called the mayor’s assessment disingenuous and disingenuous.

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Locke touts a figure of $75 million a year in higher costs for the Surrey Police Service than the RCMP in a report by accounting firm Deloitte prepared for the British Columbia government a year ago. That’s more than the $30 million a year the province has previously cited, about a 15 per cent difference between the SPS and the RCMP for the same number of officers.

However, the $75 million disparity compares a force of 900 SPS officers to 734 RCMP officers, a difference of 166 officers. Deloitte notes that the 900 officer figure was used because that is the number the province cited as the authorized strength for the Surrey detachment. The report also includes a comparison of 734 to 734 officers, resulting in a difference of $30 million.

The Surrey RCMP detachment has an authorized strength of 843 officers, which is the basis on which they jointly operate now during the transition to the municipal force. With planned hirings of more officers in the coming years outlined in the City of Surrey’s recent budget documents, if the RCMP were to stay, their numbers would approach a total force close to 900.

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Deloitte’s comparison from a year ago also does not include a recent Eight percent retroactive wage increase for RCMP officers won in arbitration.

The internal Deloitte report was made public as part of a British Columbia Supreme Court proceeding in which the City of Surrey is seeking to overturn the British Columbia government’s decision to force the transition to a municipal force. A five-day hearing is scheduled to begin April 29.

At a news conference Wednesday, Locke said she was upset by the report’s numbers.

He said not making the figures public sooner was a betrayal of trust.

“We just received this today, this morning,” Locke said. “When you see the numbers, they are extraordinary.”

When a reporter asked why the Deloitte report wasn’t available in the city now that they had it, she said she wasn’t sure.

In response to a question about why the cost of the municipal force was so much higher, Locke said it was because the Surrey Police Service would put two officers in a car, while the RCMP only puts one officer in a car, and therefore So much needed more officers.

The Surrey Police Service has said they can sometimes fit two officers into one car, for example on a busy Friday or Saturday night. However, the city force has said that putting two officers in a car does not increase the number of officers that would be needed in the city or how many would be needed on a shift.

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Farnworth called Locke’s assessment of the report and its figures false.

He said you can’t compare the cost of 734 RCMP officers to 900 SPS officers.

“To suggest that this is the model and that is the cost basis is simply, completely and utterly false,” Farnworth told reporters at the Victorian legislature.

“This doesn’t surprise me. “It’s just another effort by the city to try to muddy the waters and a refusal on their part to accept that this transition is moving forward, that the Surrey Police Service, the RCMP, the province and the federal government are working to ensure it happens.” , said.

The British Columbia government has passed legislation requiring the transition to the municipal force to be completed.

Locke’s latest accusation comes just a day after Farnworth announced a A target date of Nov. 29 has been set for the transfer of command of the RCMP to the new Surrey Police Service.

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Locke dismissed Farnworth’s desired delivery date as a desperate attempt to demonstrate progress days before the matter was to be heard in court.

The Surrey police dispute is in its 18th month.

Locke and his majority council have been fighting since his election in the fall of 2022 to maintain the RCMP, largely because the force is less expensive.

Under former Mayor Doug McCallum, a 2019 transition plan outlined Surrey as Canada’s largest city without its own municipal force, which would bring oversight to the local level, rather than Ottawa, and be more responsive to changing conditions and demands, and representative. of the community.

The British Columbia government initially offered $150 million over five years to offset transition costs and then added another $20 million annually over the next five years to cover the cost difference between the RCMP and the Police Service. of Surrey. That full $250 million offer was rejected two weeks ago by Locke and his majority council.

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