Surrey councillor to make final push to stop police transition

SURREY (NEWS 1130) — Councillor Brenda Locke is asking Surrey to slow down when it comes to a new police force, saying she doesn’t believe the plan was transparent to the public.

Monday, she will bring forward a motion to stop all work on the transition, until the plan is looked over by a third party.

“The review is to include the true financial implications to the taxpayer,” the motion reads.

She says when it comes to moving away from the RCMP, public safety has to be top of mind, and will take a hit if the transition is rushed.

“This whole process has been flawed, the consultation has been flawed. The mayor, his team, city staff, the Vancouver police department–nobody can defend the the process or ultimately the report. And so let’s bring it back,” she says. “Revisit it. Start basically over again with a third party to review the whole notion of whether or not we should do a transition in Surrey.”

As part of her motion she’s asking the city to make all consultation materials public in order to adequately address public safety.

“The report will make Surrey less safe. There’s no question about that. They’re cutting down the number of police officers. So I think there’s a real pause that has to happen,” Locke says. “This is probably the most significant thing we will do in in a generation in terms of public safety in Surrey. So I think doing it right is more important than doing it fast. And so that was my suggestion, that we stop. We bring in experts, as opposed to what we’ve been using today to actually look at all the implications of of transition.”

While Locke admits her motion can be defeated by the majority of council, she’s hoping a member of the mayor’s Safe Surrey Coaltion will lend their support.

“As a former is a former MLA and Cabinet Minister, I have to tell you, I have never seen such a lack of accountability and downright disregard for citizens. So I am, I am hopeful for a Christmas miracle that one of my one of the colleagues on the mayor’s team will see the light. But from my perspective, the citizens of Surrey do not want this happening. And they want to take a sober second look at it.”

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