“Trolls do what trolls do, but it’s hit a new low point,” SPS spokesman Ian MacDonald said, referring to tweets alleging infidelity, family breakdown and secret children against some SPS members.
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The Surrey Police Service has called on Twitter trolls to stop spreading lies about their officers and their families as a way to discredit the controversial transition from an RCMP detachment to a municipal police force.
On Monday, the SPS Twitter handle (which has 5,350 followers) stated that “Surrey Police Service is strongly opposed to people using Twitter to engage in personal attacks on our employees and worse, their families. ”.
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SPS spokesman Ian MacDonald said the intensity of Twitter trolls – people who post false and inflammatory comments linked to the accounts of the people they are attacking – has increased since the October 15 municipal election, when the candidate Anti-SPS Mayor Brenda Locke defeated former Mayor Doug. McCallum, who created the SPS to replace the Surrey RCMP.
“Trolls do what trolls do but it’s hit a new low point,” MacDonald said, referring to tweets alleging infidelity, family breakdown and secret children against some SPS members.
MacDonald said it was particularly disturbing that the trolls knew of particular police officers and were targeting them as part of an ongoing effort to discredit the SPS, which is embroiled in an ugly political battle within Surrey.
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This battle dates back to 2018, when McCallum was elected on the promise of getting rid of Surrey’s RCMP and replacing it with a municipal force.
McCallum won approval from the provincial government to switch forces, and as of this month, the service has hired 296 sworn officers and 57 civilian staff, with the service scheduled to be fully operational by next July.
Mayor Locke is 100% committed to maintaining Surrey’s RCMP and has called for a corporate report outlining how the city will disband the SPS. This report will go to British Columbia Attorney General Mike Farnworth, who will have the final say on who will police British Columbia’s second largest municipality by population.
Despite this state of flux, the SPS continues to hire officers and continues as if guaranteed to be allowed to replace the RCMP.
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Meanwhile, the Surrey RCMP also continues as if to stay in place, making no comment to the media about the transition.
MacDonald said policing was already a challenging occupation, and for individual officers to be targeted online was treacherous and unfair.
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Surrey Mayor-elect Brenda Locke begins work to stop transition to municipal policing
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There is no decision on the future of the Surrey Police Service until at least the end of the year, as more officers are recruited.
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