Letter from B. Sauve, National Police Federation, Re: Surrey Police Transition

Re: Ongoing Impact of Surrey Police Transition on B.C. Municipalities

On behalf of the National Police Federation (NPF), and our ~6,700 dedicated RCMP Members serving across our province, I write to bring your attention to the continuing adverse effects of the Surrey police transition on municipalities throughout British Columbia (B.C.). Since the outset of the proposed police transition, the NPF has consistently raised concerns regarding the substantial costs and implications for public safety, underscored by the absence of a clear and comprehensive transition plan. Despite the passage of over five years, the lack of transparency persists, leaving uncertainty and impeding fairness and respect of our Members, the residents of Surrey and all taxpayers in B.C.

Over the past year, the NPF has actively engaged in numerous events, including the UBCM’s Annual Convention, and participated in meetings with various municipalities. These engagements provided us with an opportunity to share how the proposed Surrey police transition will impact your community. It allowed us to shed light on the political pressures from the provincial government, which, driven by its own agenda, is pressing forward with the police transition. I want to highlight how the Surrey police transition is and will impact your community.

Staffing, Recruiting & Training:

Surrey Police Service (SPS)

Recruitment challenges persist within the SPS as they face a substantial gap between their current officer count of 354 and expected staffing level of 860 by 2027. Between April 2023 and April 2024, the SPS grew from only 332 sworn officers to 354 despite ongoing hirings. This issue is further exacerbated by attrition resulting in a 25% vacancy rate as disillusionment with the transition process prompts officers to seek opportunities elsewhere, including returning to the RCMP.

The former Surrey Mayor had projected a large number of Surrey RCMP Members patching over to the SPS, despite an internal survey of Surrey RCMP Members indicating that less than 14% would even consider joining the SPS. Due to the lack of interest from Surrey RCMP Members, the SPS has had to recruit the majority of its police officers from across B.C., leaving policing gaps in communities across the province.

In addition, the SPS has had to recruit many new police officers and the training requirements necessary to do so have imposed significant costs to the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC), leading to a projected 30% increase in capacity and additional funding needs. This escalation, amounting to a 207% surge in funding ($1.225 million in 2019/20 to $3.770 million in 2022/23) from the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General-Police Services, directly impacting all taxpayers in the province.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)

The province has been misinforming B.C. municipalities by suggesting Surrey RCMP will be redeployed across the province to address vacancies or needs in other communities. This is unfortunately not true. Any Surrey RCMP Member who chooses to leave Surrey will have the opportunity to select their next posting. Some may opt for transfer to locations such as Newfoundland, Manitoba, Specialized Teams, Federal Policing, or may elect to remain in B.C. Others might choose retirement, pursue a different career trajectory, or join another municipal police service. However, the timeline for these transitions spans years, and as a result, the number of Surrey RCMP Members remaining in B.C. will dwindle, offering little solution to addressing human resource shortages in other B.C. municipalities.

While the B.C. government did provide $230M at the end of 2022 to hire 277 RCMP officers to fill vacancies, those vacancies were positions that were previous unfunded by successive provincial governments in an attempt to save money. RCMP recruitment numbers are on the rise. Last year, the RCMP received 14,455 applicants, and Depot has been operating at full troop capacity since last August. We have also enhanced the Experienced Police Officer program, and as a result, last year, saw over 600 officers from other police services, the military, and other public safety agencies join the RCMP.

The province bears full responsibility to ensure policing needs are adequately met across B.C. Regrettably, the government has failed to increase the RCMP’s authorized strength since 2012 and has unfunded positions in recent budgets, thereby exacerbating the issue of underfunded RCMP positions in B.C. This deliberate action has resulted in a significant vacancy in B.C., which the government is now attempting to attribute to RCMP recruitment challenges, politicizing the issue instead of acknowledging their own shortcomings.

Costs:

The absence of a transition plan has left municipalities unprepared for the financial ramifications of the proposed Surrey police transition. Forecasts suggest substantial costs for municipalities, especially those in the Lower Mainland.

This is exemplified by the Township of Langley’s anticipated costs, as a direct result of the Surrey policing transition, of approximately $2.5 million per year (and potentially even upwards of $4 million per year).

Under the former Surrey Mayor, it was said that there would be no disruption to other municipalities. Now more than five years later the province has stepped in to force the transition and is unable to provide B.C. municipalities with a transition plan, impact analysis, or end date. Early on in the Surrey transition, the province approved the police transition even though a feasibility study was never completed. The proposed transition will continue to trigger many direct and indirect costs to municipalities across B.C.

Annual Leave Payouts

Police services are under resourced, leading to officers repeatedly foregoing their annual leave; resulting in hundreds of hours of unused annual leave accruing as a debt for municipalities. Any police service who loses an officer to the SPS will be required to pay out those annual leave hours, resulting in accelerated, unanticipated costs and cashflow challenges.

RCMP Division Administrative Costs

These costs support RCMP administrative functions one would expect to occur with the provision of policing services (HR, IM/IT, maternity/parental leave, health services, payroll services, etc). These costs are shared amongst all business lines in the RCMP’s E Division (B.C.) for their portion of the costs.

Payment for division administration is based on a per capita rate and FTE usage for each business line. The SPS will result in a loss of 850 RCMP officers, which will impact the per capita rate, and therefore division administration costs for other units will rise and impact RCMP policed municipalities, respectively.

In 2023, Surrey’s actual prorated share of the divisional administrative fee was $20.8 million.

RCMP Pacific Region Training Centre (PRTC)

The Surrey police transition will impact the PRTC. Ongoing training for RCMP Members in B.C. is provided primarily by PRTC. Costs for training are recovered by way of user fees charged to the detachments of home units of the members utilizing this facility. Put simply, increased training for new recruits to replace those lost to SPS will cost municipalities.

Provincial Tax Dollars for Surrey:

The Province of B.C. is allocating $150 million to Surrey to assist in the financial burden of the mandated transition to a municipal police service. This is not including the additional $100 million that the province put on the table to cover the ongoing additional expenses. This is money that is coming from all B.C. taxpayers that is being directed towards policing in one community. In times like this with B.C. residents across the province facing an affordability crisis, saddling taxpayers with such expenses without enhancing public safety damages the hard work and reputation of public safety organizations across the province. If funds are available for public safety investments, the NPF has numerous recommendations for the Premier and Minister of Public Safety including Integrated Crisis Response Teams, increased clinical counselors in E-Comm call centers, and addressing the ongoing opioid crisis. This funding should be distributed across all police services in B.C. to ensure comprehensive public safety measures across the province.

Political interference:

It is clear that the provincial government holds little respect for municipal independence especially with regards to policing and public safety. This was most evidently seen through Bill 36, Police Amendment Act, 2023 which sought to define the relationship between communities and their law enforcement and enshrine the provinces oversight of it. Through finding a way to legitimize their overriding of Surrey City Council, the Minister of Public Safety has stripped away municipal independence and local accountability. It is this centralized authority that leads to politicization of law enforcement, where policing priorities can be perceived to be dictated by provincial agendas rather than the needs and priorities of each municipality. It is crucial for policymakers to prioritize the preservation of local autonomy and the integrity of police services in B.C. municipalities.

I urge you to join us in voicing our concerns to the provincial government. With the impending provincial election likely to divert attention and delay meaningful action, we are asking the province to be transparent with British Columbians in all matters of public safety and work with municipalities and public safety organizations to address the real priorities in the province. Municipalities are and will continue to be impacted both directly and indirectly by the SPS and deserve to have been included in all consultation phases, including current and future planning of risk impacts of the SPS.

Please feel free to reach out should you require further clarification or additional information.

Sincerely,

Brian Sauvé President & CEO