58 Percent Want To Keep RCMP In Surrey Instead Of Costly Local Police!

Surrey residents are clear on two things in a new Pollara poll commissioned by the National Police Federation (NPF):  they do not want a new Surrey Police Service or support Mayor Doug McCallum. Voters filled all but one council seat with Safe Surrey party members, including McCallum, who ran on making the change. The poll taken in August shows that 58% of Surrey residents oppose Mayor Doug McCallum’s RCMP transition plan, with 44% of that subgroup strongly opposed. NPF President Brian Sauvé says the results show the Mayor’s policing plan continues to drag his popularity down.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

SURREY – Surrey mayor Doug “Paaji” McCallum isn’t getting much love from Surrey residents, a whopping 72 percent of them who say they wouldn’t vote for him for trying to shove costly Surrey police down their throats.

Surrey residents are clear on two things in a new Pollara poll commissioned by the National Police Federation (NPF):  they do not want a new Surrey Police Service or support Mayor Doug McCallum. 

Voters filled all but one council seat with Safe Surrey party members, including McCallum, who ran on making the change. Meanwhile former mayor Dianne Watts was heavily favored to become the next mayor of Surrey.

The poll taken in August shows that 58% of Surrey residents oppose Mayor Doug McCallum’s RCMP transition plan, with 44% of that subgroup strongly opposed. NPF President Brian Sauvé says the results show the Mayor’s policing plan continues to drag his popularity down.

“Mayor McCallum is continuing to ignore the will of Surrey residents, the vast majority of whom oppose his plan,” said Sauvé. “A stunning 72% of those polled agreed that his costly plan to remove the Surrey RCMP is a good reason not to vote for Doug McCallum in the next municipal election.”

The poll, the latest in a series conducted this year, also asked respondents about their priorities for the new Surrey Police Board:

*86% agreed the Board should disclose any increases to the annual police budget required to keep service levels at exactly the same level as the current RCMP;

*86% agreed the Board should report to the public a full accounting of all start-up and transition costs before a final decision on the transition; and

*79% agreed that given the City’s financial challenges, the Board should delay the implementation of the transition until after the municipal election in 2022 so all costs can be determined and considered.

“The results are clear that Surrey voters don’t believe they are getting all of the information they need or want when it comes to the true cost of this plan,” added Sauvé. “The new Board has an opportunity to provide real governance and leadership on this file by demanding answers from the Mayor.”

A referendum on the Surrey transition plan continues to be popular with Surrey voters, with 70% in support. The poll, conducted between August 11 and 24, included a mix of online (500) and telephone (306) in the sample1.

The survey included a random sample of 806 adults. Pollara says non-probability samples cannot be assigned a margin of error. The margin of error for a probability sample of this size is ± 3.5%, 19 times out of 20.