The Surrey Police Service is less than three weeks from taking over from the RCMP to manage policing in British Columbia’s second most populous municipality, but there’s still no deal on how responsibilities will be split between the two forces.
On Nov. 29, the municipal service becomes the police force of jurisdiction in Surrey, while the Mounties take on what’s expected to be a years-long supporting role.
Surrey Police Chief Norm Lipinski says he isn’t worried about the lack of an agreement, which he expects to be signed “in a matter of days,” but the head of the RCMP’s union says members are anxious at being so close to the handover without a clear understanding of what their jobs will look like.
Brian Sauvé, president of the National Police Federation, says members haven’t been told what’s going to happen on Nov. 29 and since each police service has its own policies and procedures there could be challenges.
While policing in Surrey has been managed by the RCMP, Surrey Police Service officers have been working alongside them since 2021 while a dispute over the transition played out in municipal and provincial politics.
That dispute ended this year with the announcement of the Nov. 29 transition date, but laws that prevent Mounties from answering to municipal police are complicating the handover, requiring a new deal on responsibilities.
Lipinski would not go into specifics about the agreement that is being worked on, but says the two forces are essentially dividing up Surrey geographically with the RCMP responsible for some areas and the Surrey Police Service in charge of others.
“We will start with geography and certain areas, and they will start with their geography. Then what happens is, as we build up and they scale down, we take over more of their geography. We’ve got a plan for that. It makes total sense,” he says.