B.C. recommends continuing transition to municipal police force in Surrey

The B.C. government is recommending the City of Surrey continue its transition to a municipal police force and has offered to discuss financial support to protect Surrey taxpayers.

The recommendation is not binding, so the city could continue its plan to return to the RCMP.

However, the province has put binding conditions on both returning to the RCMP or continuing the transition to the Surrey Police Service.

It was not immediately clear whether the province had the authority to make an outright decision.

The B.C. government’s recommendations come after an analysis by provincial staff concluded that returning to the RCMP in Surrey is not safe and would be at the expense of staffing other RCMP vacancies in the province, including at other municipal forces.