City hall excluded from decision to extend RCMP’s stay in Surrey

June 17, 2025

RED FM News Desk

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke says the provincial government kept the city administration in the dark when ministry officials requested federal counterparts to extend the RCMP’s presence in Surrey for a third year to temporarily support the Surrey Police Service (SPS).

It is notable that on November 29, 2024, the Surrey RCMP was officially replaced by the SPS, and the SPS is now functioning as the city’s police service. However, until the SPS force is fully ready, the BC RCMP’s Surrey Provincial Operations Support Unit is still assisting with policing in the city. This transition process is expected to be completed by 2026/27.

“We are concerned that the Province has taken this step without first consulting with the City, thereby denying us the opportunity to provide input,” Locke wrote in a letter to Public Safety Minister Garry Begg, NDP MLA for Surrey-Guildford, on June 19.

“This decision to act unilaterally and apparent willingness to exclude the City from involvement is troubling, given the Province’s stated
expectation that the City is responsible for, and so must pay for, the financial consequences of Provincial decisions,” Locke wrote Begg.

In her letter, Locke told Begg “the evident need to revisit this territory is disappointing”.

Minister Begg has not replied to Mayor Locke’s letter. Meanwhile, Premier David Eby shuffled the cabinet today and Minister Begg is no longer the Minister of Public Safety.