BURST
With chaos resurfacing in the long-running transition to a municipal police force, policing is likely to be front-and-centre again in this fall’s municipal election, say political observers.
The fallout continues from the abrupt decision by the Surrey police board to remove Surrey Police Chief Const. Norm Lipinski , who had led the transition since 2020 and had his contract renewed for another three years just last fall.
Several mayoral candidates have raised questions around the timing, the lack of reasoning for the firing, the severance cost that has not been revealed, and the effect on the Surrey Police Service’s ability to recruit much-needed new members.
Hamish Telford, a political scientist at the University of the Fraser Valley, said the inner machinations of the removal of the police chief will go over the heads of most voters, but the police transition is a lingering issue that will continue to be a concern in the fall election.
He said that is certainty so given Doug McCallum is running for mayor again, almost as if the police transition is being fought over again.
McCallum was the mayor who led the move to create the municipal force, but lost to Locke, who campaigned to retain the RCMP in the 2022 election. McCallum is among five candidates that have already said they will challenge Locke this fall.
“There will be the diehards who still oppose this and want the RCMP back, there’ll be others who support the Surrey police force, and I think most voters actually would just like this to be put in the rear view mirror,” said Telford.
The transition to the new force, which started more than six years ago, has been acrimonious and has moved slowly, with completion not expected for another year or more. The new force is still short about 175 officers from its full complement of 835.
An 18-month battle to halt the transition only ended in 2024 when Locke and her council agreed to a $250-million payment from the province to assist with the costs of the transition. That was after the mayor and council lost a B.C. Supreme Court attempt to block the transition that the B.C. government wanted to proceed.
It remains unclear whether Lipinski’s departure is being classified as a resignation or a firing.
Board member Hanne Madsen has said the board decided to “terminate” Lipinski. But another source told Postmedia News that Lipinski was placed on leave following a meeting Monday morning with Surrey police board members and that he was given until Thursday at 4 p.m. to resign or he would be terminated without cause.
Following the decision to remove Lipinski, and the resignation of two police board directors, including the chair, McCallum has accused Locke of a “takeover” of the police board.
The decision to remove Lipinski came after five new board members were appointed 10 weeks ago by the province in consultation with the City of Surrey. The two board members who resigned were previous appointments made without input from the city.
Locke has said she was not aware ahead of time Lipinski would be removing, saying city hall is not involved in those decisions.
Another mayoral candidate, Mike Starchuk, a former NDP MLA, has said there should be an investigation into the board’s decision to fire Lipinski so soon after his contract was renewed in October.
Linda Annis, a Surrey city councillor and mayoral candidate, has said the d ecision to remove Lipinski seemed politically motivated and undertaken by the mayor’s “hand-picked” board. She blamed the mayor for prolonging the transition even further.
Locke has been at odds with Lipinski on several occasions, at one point holding up hiring for the fledgling police force and more recently criticizing the police force when it reassigned its gang unit as it took over policing of Cloverdale, which Lipinski said it did not yet have enough officers to do.
Mayoral candidate Troy Van Vliet, a Surrey businessman, has also raised concerns about costs and instability facing the Surrey Police Service after Lipinski’s removal at a time when recruitment is so important.
Asked if the province had any concerns about the removal of Lipinski and how it occurred, Nina Krieger, the minister of public safety and solicitor general, said in a written response Friday the province has no role or authority in municipal police staffing.
“My ministry’s focus continues to be working with all parties, including the federal government, the RCMP, Surrey Police Service, Surrey police board and the City of Surrey to ensure a timely and safe completion of the police transition,” said Krieger.
She said the province will begin the process of filling the two provincially appointed vacant police board positions.
Krieger did not respond to a question on whether an independent probe is needed, with ministry officials saying only the province had received no complaint about the chief’s ouster.
The Surrey Police Union says its members are upset and angry at the political optics of the removal of Lipinski and have asked that union officials explore holding a vote of non-confidence of the board.
“This is a difficult time for our membership, and confidence in the governance of the Surrey police board is at a low point,” said Surrey Police Union president Ryan Buhrig. “We are actively assessing the situation and exploring all available options to protect the interests of our members and the future of the organization.”
Surrey Police union officials walked out of a tense meeting with the board on Thursday.
With Postmedia files