July 18, 2025
RED FM News Desk
The Surrey Police Service (SPS) is set to assume street patrol duties from the RCMP in South Surrey’s west side on July 28 at 6 a.m., with the east side transition scheduled for November 25.
Chief Constable Norm Lipinski shared this update with the Surrey Police Board on July 16, stating, “We’re all set to go; we’ve been working with our colleagues the RCMP making that transition very smooth.”
The SPS will take over the area from the south bank of the Serpentine River, stretching from Mud Bay to 152 Street. From there, their jurisdiction extends west of 152 Street to its junction with Highway 99, encompassing the western part of the peninsula down to the U.S. border. White Rock will remain under its own RCMP detachment.
On November 25, the SPS will expand its coverage to the remainder of South Surrey, east of 152 Street and Highway 99 down to the border, reaching 196 Street (the Langley/Surrey border) and north to the policing boundary between South Surrey (District 5) and Cloverdale (District 4).
Since the SPS became the city’s police of jurisdiction on November 29, its uniformed front-line officers have been patrolling Whalley and Newton. Meanwhile, RCMP counterparts have been providing temporary support, covering South Surrey, Cloverdale, Fleetwood, and Guildford as the SPS builds up its ranks. The full transition is expected to be completed in 2026/27. The Surrey RCMP, which served as the city’s official police force since May 1, 1951, has now become a provincial RCMP unit supporting the SPS.
In the same meeting, Chief Constable Lipinski informed the board that the SPS currently has 450 police officers. He added, “We’re on track with our recruiting targets for this year. Our next intake of experienced officers is in September, with a target of 15 officers, and we’re very confident we’ll be able to reach that by September. The Justice Institute of B.C. has allocated us 18 seats for new recruits, and those have been filled.”
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