Royal Mounted Police on foot at Montreal Saint Patrick’s Day Parade on Saint Catherine Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, March 20, 2016 / Shutterstock
Immediately after he was sworn into office on Monday, November 5, Mayor Doug McCallum and eight city councillors unanimously voted to replace the Surrey RCMP.
The move is part of Mayor McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition platform, which aims to remove the RCMP in favour of a municipal police force.
The decision was one of two major campaign promises from the newly-elected mayor. The other, scrapping the Surrey LRT in favour of expanding the SkyTrain, also passed at City Council on Monday night.
Currently, the Surrey RCMP is the largest detachment in the country. According to Mayor McCallum, he has support from both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth. Further, he states that the switch will take place over the next two years and cost the city roughly $120 million.
With that in mind, he believes that the transition is the best move for the city. In addition, Assistant RCMP Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, who is in charge of the Surrey RCMP detachment, stated that the RCMP officers will remain on the job through the change.
With files from the Canadian Press.
