Respected Supreme Court judge and former BC Attorney General Wally Oppal, who is also the chair of the Surrey Policing Transition Task Force, provided an update at the Surrey Board of Trade meeting on Wednesday, saying transitioning from the Surrey RCMP to local policing will be costly to Surrey taxpayers as it will be very expensive to have local police over the existing RCMP. A majority of voters in Surrey want to cast a ballot before scrapping the RCMP in favour of a municipal force, according to a poll released last week.

SURREY – Former Supreme Court judge and former BC Attorney General Wally Oppal, who is also the chair of the Surrey Policing Transition Task Force, provided an update at the Surrey Board of Trade meeting on Wednesday, saying transitioning from the Surrey RCMP to local policing will be costly to Surrey taxpayers as it will be very expensive to have local police over the existing RCMP.

Oppal, who made the comments while speaking at the Surrey’s Board of Trade on Wednesday, was providing a progress update on the 450-page transition report, which is still not available to the public.

He said he wasn’t there to give political advice, nor is it his job to hold a referendum on policing.

“I was the chair of the transition committee. That job is now done. I don’t know what my role will be in the future, if, in fact, there is anything for me,” Oppal said.

He conceded a municipal police force in Surrey will provide more local control, but likely cost more than having RCMP serve the city, reported News1130..

But he couldn’t say how much more because a cost analysis hasn’t been done.

The next step is to install a police board and chief, but it’s not clear when that will happen.

Some members of a group trying to keep the RCMP in Surrey attended the board of trade meeting.

“Taxpayers in Surrey want to be heard,” said one woman of the group. “If you can’t help us, then who can?”

Volunteers with a Surrey group petitioning to keep the RCMP delivered 40 boxes containing a signed petition to the Vancouver Cabinet Office on Valentine’s Day.

The group, KEEP the RCMP, aims to collect 50,000 signatures in total.

Last week, the National Police Federation (NPF) called on Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum to hold a referendum on keeping the RCMP in Surrey. 

The NPF, which represents 20,000 RCMP members across Canada and 850 members serving the people of Surrey, is asking for Surrey residents to be offered a say on this important issue.

“Instead of funding more frontline RCMP officers to fight crime and gang violence, the Mayor is planning to spend $19 million on a new police bureaucracy that will report directly to him,” said Brian Sauvé, President of the NPF. “Surrey residents deserves a say on this important issue, and the Mayor needs to listen.”

A recent poll of 800 Surrey residents by Pollara Strategic Insights, commissioned by the NPF, found that 82% support a referendum and 77% support retaining the RCMP with improvements. This is aligned with the 40,000 signatures collected by the grassroots residents’ group 'Keep the RCMP in Surrey’, delivered to the Premier’s Office last week.

“Despite the fact that Surrey has underfunded the RCMP for years, our members have worked extremely hard in challenging circumstances to keep Surrey streets safe with crime currently at a ten-year low,” added Sauvé. “If the Mayor has $19 million for a new police bureaucracy, many people believe he should put that money into more RCMP officers who are on the frontline helping Surrey residents today.”

Surrey is one of Canada’s fastest growing and most diverse cities. Under the RCMP, crime in Surrey has steadily decreased since 2007, and is at a ten-year low. The NPF and its members have been seeking engagement with Mayor and Council, as well as the provincial government, but their voices have been largely ignored.

“The people of Surrey have seen the Mayor’s plan and they don’t like it, that’s why so many people are speaking up to support keeping the RCMP,” added Sauvé. “The RCMP was established in Surrey by referendum in 1950, and Surrey residents deserve another referendum to keep the RCMP and say no to the Mayor’s plan.”

The city received approval from the province in April to replace the RCMP with a municipal police force. McCallum, who has said the new municipal force will start operating next year, and his allied councillors did not attend the board of trade meeting on Wednesday.