A duplicate of the petition supplied to media says Surrey is looking for an order quashing the July 19 resolution by the B.C. Solicitor Normal that directs Surrey to proceed the police transition.
The Metropolis of Surrey will go to courtroom in an effort to halt the transition from the RCMP to a municipal police pressure.
Town introduced it plans to file a petition in B.C. Supreme Court docket asking for a judicial assessment of the provincial order forcing town to proceed the police transition began underneath the earlier council.
“My crew and I have been elected to cease the proposed police transition,” Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke mentioned in a information launch issued Friday morning. “Surrey merely can not settle for the extraordinary burden that our taxpayers will face because of a provincial order that won’t ship any public security profit.”
In a information launch of his personal, B.C. Minister of Public Security Mike Farnworth mentioned he was upset town was selecting to spend cash on “authorized charges to proceed outdated fights which have dragged on too lengthy.”
“Folks in Surrey need the uncertainty over who will police their metropolis to finish,” he mentioned, including the provincial authorities plans to introduce laws on Monday to “present readability to the individuals of Surrey and … a transparent course of for any municipality that desires to vary its police of jurisdiction.”
Town can even ask for a declaration that B.C. is with out lawful authority to assign town the “accountability” of the transition with out offering the cash to do it.
Town can even search unspecified prices.
The petition says the estimated prices of transition to the Surrey Police Service in comparison with retaining the RCMP is about $464 million over 10 years. The province has provided to fund $150 million, leaving a $314 million shortfall.
Lawyer Peter German, who’s advising town on policing, will converse to media at 11 a.m. Friday concerning the courtroom proceedings.
“I consider council put ahead a wise plan to maintain the RCMP, which is in the very best curiosity of taxpayers and public security,” German mentioned within the Surrey information launch. “The warnings about greater prices and incapacity to recruit entrance line officers for the Surrey Police Service have all come true, and town has an obligation to behave within the public curiosity.”
However Surrey Coun. Linda Annis mentioned the mayor’s resolution to go to courtroom — and to rent German as a guide — are pointless prices.
“Surrey taxpayers are being shortchanged within the management division and when all the prices are in, they are going to be shocked by simply how a lot political ego prices,” she mentioned in a information launch.
Annis claimed the vast majority of Surrey residents need the transition accomplished so council can give attention to different points, similar to transit, hospitals, infrastructure, and faculties.
“As an alternative, Mayor Locke has sidelined these different essential points by persevering with her private combat with the provincial authorities,” she mentioned.
Extra to return …
