Surrey's RCMP Members: Proud to Serve Our Community

Our Members

These are Surrey’s RCMP Members: diverse, passionate, committed. Living and serving Surrey every day. They’ve got our back, we need to have theirs.

Community &
Diversity

Surrey is home to the largest RCMP detachment in Canada. With ~800 officers, who are part of several integrated and highly specialized teams including the Emergency Response Team, Police Dog Services, and the Homicide Investigation Team to name a few. Visit the BC RCMP website for a full list of police services. Surrey RCMP are committed to the safety and wellbeing of Surrey residents. 

Through its contract with the RCMP, the City of Surrey establishes the level of police resources, budget, and policing priorities for Surrey in consultation with the Province and the RCMP. The Surrey RCMP Officer in Charge (OIC) reports to the Mayor of Surrey on matters relating to the implementation of objectives, priorities, and goals of the detachment. Learn more about Surrey RCMP’s Governance & Accountability to the City of Surrey. 

For over 70 years, the Surrey RCMP has been a centerpiece of community involvement in Surrey.  

Just a few of the highlights include: 

The annual Pack the Police Car initiative helped collect 1,100 pounds of food and over $2,496 for local food banks in Surrey in 2021.  

Last year, the Surrey RCMP helped donate over 600 articles of clothing, including hand-made toques that were collected by officers and staff to deliver to those in need.  

Every year the Surrey RCMP collects donations for the annual Keian’s Holiday Wish Toy Drive to help brighten the holiday season for sick children and their families. Since 2017, close to 9000 toys and $32,000 in cash donations have been collected.  

In 2021, four Surrey RCMP officers cycled in the “Tour de Valley” Cops for Cancer ride. They helped raise over $190,000 to support pediatric cancer research and programs. 

The Surrey RCMP supported more than 2,000 vulnerable persons in 2021 by providing emotional support, information, and referrals to victims and witnesses of crime. For example, Sophie’s Place Child and Youth Advocacy Centre provides a safe space for children who are victims of physical, mental, or sexual abuse.  Officers who work at Sophie’s Place are trained in the Step-Wise interview technique, which facilitates the child’s recall of events while minimizing trauma. In 2021, Sophie’s Place conducted over 276 interviews.  

Surrey RCMP is also a key partner in Surrey Safe Schools, providing prevention and intervention resources and programming to help keep our kids safe in the classroom. Key programs include:  

Code Blue/Mini Blue, a program that builds positive police-youth relationships through fitness.  

Throughout 2021, Surrey RCMP presented Shattering the Image 89 times. This anti-gang presentation shares the true story of gang life in Surrey and its consequences. 

Project Lavender is a program that aims to empower youth to make positive choices and understand the importance of engaging in healthy relationships. With ~60 presentations a year, the program is focused on giving our youth the confidence to accept their challenges and strengths with compassion and resiliency so they can make positive life choices.  

The Surrey Wrap program offers a comprehensive and collaborative support program for students who exhibit signs of gang associated behaviour and those who may have historically had difficulty with police or authority figures. The objective of the Wrap Program is to positively attach youth to school, community and home by building trusting and positive relationships with strong role models. 

The Surrey RCMP also emphasizes support for Mental Health. The Police Mental Health Outreach Team attends 27 meetings a month with over 20 agencies. Car 67 is a program that pairs a police officer with a nurse to respond to police calls that involve significant mental health issues. Last year, this program supported over 950 residents. 

These are only some of the fantastic examples of the committed and hard-working RCMP Members serving Surrey. 

Our City is one of the fastest-growing and most culturally diverse cities in Canada. The Surrey RCMP embraces the values of diversity and recognizes the importance of working with our diverse communities to promote public safety.  

It is critical that our police service reflect the diversity of our community. The Surrey RCMP Member language profile increasingly and closely reflects that of our City:  

  • Surrey detachment Members speak over 50 different languages 
  • Over one-third of officers self-report as visible minorities.  

The Surrey RCMP lead the Diversity Outreach Program, which expands the ability of community police officers to connect with the City’s diverse communities, and ensure they are comfortable reaching out to and interacting with the RCMP when needed.  

Additionally, the Surrey RCMP continuously works to develop our relationship with Surrey’s land-based nations of Semiahmoo, Kwantlen, and Katzie First Nations. The Surrey RCMP’s Diversity and Indigenous Peoples Unit was created to enhance Surrey Detachment's ability to connect with the city's diverse communities. In 2021, this unit gave 198 community presentations.  

 

Supporters

The following community leaders are just some of the many who have gone on record supporting keeping the RCMP in Surrey.

  • Former Mayor Bob Bose
  • Former Mayor Dianne Watts
  • Former Mayor Linda Hepner
  • Councillor Linda Annis
  • Councillor Brenda Locke
  • Councillor Jack Singh Hundial
  • Councillor Steven Pettigrew
  • Former MLA and MP Gordie Hogg
  • MP Ken Hardie
  • Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman
  • Retired Surrey RCMP Inspector Baltej S. Dhillon

The Issues

1. Unwanted Plan

Surrey residents do not support this unwanted plan. Recent polling from Pollara Strategic Insights following the province's police transition announcement (news release available here) shows that:  

  • Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) Surrey residents support retaining the RCMP more than double the number of those that think the City should proceed with the Surrey Police Service (28%).
  • Majority support for the RCMP is found across the city, including 62% of South Asian residents.
  • A commanding 69% of BC NDP voters support Surrey retaining the RCMP, more than double the number of BC NDP voters who support proceeding with the Surrey Police Service (22%).  

Multiple earlier waves of polling also confirmed strong support for the Surrey RCMP, including: 

  • 75% of residents support keeping the RCMP in Surrey with improvements such as increased policing resources. 
  • 82% of residents believe the transition should be halted until detailed costs are shared publicly. 
  • 89% of Surrey residents have a favourable impression of RCMP Members. 
    • 90% female 
    • 88% male 
    • 87% South Asian
2. Hidden and Unknown Costs

This is an expensive plan with future hidden and unknown costs for taxpayers. This transition needs to be halted until full costs are known and a feasibility study can be done.

  • Transition costs skyrocketed from $19 million to over $103 million. The real costs of the police transition remain unknown. 
  • If the Surrey Police Service transition were to continue, it would take more than three years to complete and cost residents an additional $235 million.  
  • The City of Surrey benefits through millions in federal subsidies and provincial tax exemptions by having the Surrey RCMP as their police service. Each year these savings average $22 million, that will be lost by having a new police service. Over five years, that is $110 million in lost revenues for the City that will need to be made up by the taxpayer.  
  • Funds allocated for the police transition could better serve Surrey residents by investing in the Surrey RCMP and other vital services like pre-schools, community pools, youth programs, improved infrastructure, or addressing the opioid and housing crises.
3. Big Tax Increases

Your taxes have been raised significantly to fund the new police service. The City of Surrey should be providing support for vulnerable citizens instead of funding this costly police transition.

  • Since 2018, Surrey residents have faced increasing property taxes on average 2.9% annually.   
  • This is in addition to tripling the property levy from $100 to $300 per homeowner, which has collected millions of additional dollars from taxpayers to fund a new police service, from $17 million in 2020, to a forecasted $50.7 million in 2025.