The Surrey Police Service’s police chief, Norm Lipinksi, says by putting 10 marked SPS cruisers on city streets, his organization has hit a milestone in its six-year transition becoming Surrey’s municipal police force.
“It’s a great morale boost,” he said on Tuesday after handing the keys over to his SPS officers to drive the vehicles from the detachment.
“It’s symbolic in the sense of we’re here. We’re growing. We’re going to continue to grow.”
The 10 white frontline police vehicles, marked in blue, white and gold with the SPS crest and words Surrey Police, are the first police vehicles to hit the streets specifically for the force since the city decided in 2018 to have its own municipal force instead of the RCMP.
The transition up to this point had been fraught with disagreement and legal action between the province and Mayor Brenda Locke. She was elected in 2022 on a mandate to stick with the RCMP.
Despite the acrimony, the SPS has slowly added officers under the Mounties’ command, but up until this point, it had used RCMP-branded vehicles.
Lipinski said his force will add 10 more vehicles next month and 10 more in August, so there will be 30 vehicles on Nov. 29, when the SPS will assume command of policing in Surrey from the RCMP.
Police Chief Norm Lipinski says the 10 marked cruisers, with 20 more to come by the fall, are a symbol of the policing transition in Surrey proceeding in earnest.
Since December 2021, the force has deployed 225 SPS officers in eight different units. It has hired 367 officers in total, but it needs to increase to 860 by the end of 2027.
“We know across the country there are some challenges in recruiting in the police profession,” said Lipinksi. “Many other organizations are doing this, so now it’s our turn to get in there and get some momentum going.”
Lipinski said adding more officers and SPS vehicles is dependent, in part, on how the RCMP demobilizes its force and sells off assets to the SPS. The chief constable said committees have been struck between the two parties to figure out that part of the transition.
Locke was critical of it in early June when she gave up her bid to keep the RCMP as the police force with jurisdiction following a judicial review that found provincial laws ensuring the transition were valid.
“To be clear, we are in the infancy stages of this transition in terms of planning and confirming proper costing for taxpayers,” she said at the time.
‘Full steam ahead’
In unveiling the new SPS squad cars, Lipinski said his force and the RCMP were working well together to complete the transition.
“There is a lot of logistics that need to be worked out, but it’s well underway,” he said.
The SPS says its 2024 provincial budget is $141.5 million and includes $100,000 to offer $10,000 signing bonuses to 10 experienced constables to come to Surrey and join the force.
To stimulate recruitment, the SPS has also devised a plan where officers getting close to retirement in other jurisdictions can move to the Surrey force more smoothly and bring their experience to Surrey.
“I think that everyone realizes that we have to move this transition along,” said Lipinksi. “The public wants this done as soon as possible. So we are moving full steam ahead.”