Surrey can’t afford to fight itself over policing

The 2026 Surrey municipal election is well underway.

The city is projected to become B.C.’s largest by 2029. On Oct. 17, Surrey will elect a mayor that will lead the city through unprecedented change and growth.

Seven slates are running, and among them is incumbent mayor Brenda Locke. Yet, one issue has loomed over the city for over eight years — the police transition. 

Despite beginning the process in 2018, Surrey is still transitioning from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service (SPS), with estimates to complete by next year.

In 2018, former mayor, and current mayoral candidate, Doug McCallum ran on two key promises: replace light rail, brought forth by then-mayor Dianne Watts, with a SkyTrain and give Surrey its own municipal police force.

While other municipalities like Vancouver and Delta have a local police force, the RCMP has policed Surrey since 1951.

McCallum argued that a municipal police force would become better acquainted with the community, which was needed to combat crime effectively. Surrey bought into his promises and McCallum won with 41 per cent of the vote in 2018.

The police transition was long and expensive. Because the RCMP is a federal entity, the city couldn’t simply take the existing police force and integrate it into municipal government. 

Meanwhile, an active “Keep the RCMP in Surrey” movement was gaining momentum. They argued that money spent building a new police force would be better spent on expanding existing policing infrastructure.

In 2022, McCallum ran for re-election, but he was ousted by Locke, his former ally and city councillor. She pledged to pause the transition and was endorsed by the Keep the RCMP in Surrey campaign. 

However, nearly 200 SPS officers were already in the field by the end of 2022, and cancelling the police transition would have been more expensive than going ahead with it. Locke tried to cancel it anyway, but the provincial government supported the move to the SPS.

In 2023, the city proposed a 17.5 per cent tax hike to cover a $116 million shortfall because of the police transition — which Surrey city council later walked back on.

The province offered the city a “final” 10-year, $250 million deal in 2024, but Locke rejected it and challenged the provincial decision — B.C.’s Supreme Court dismissed it.

Money and resources were wasted trying to reverse a decision the mayor never controlled. City councillor and mayoral candidate Linda Annis said the legal battle between Surrey and the province cost nearly $1.3 million.

Finally, the city and the B.C. government came to an agreement in July 2024 to continue with the police transition. Surrey accepted a $250 million offer from the province, with an additional up to $20 million per year if SPS salaries are higher than RCMP salaries would be from 2029 to 2034, and no additional police tax from the city.

The police transition is nearing the finish line. While McCallum can be blamed for initiating it, Locke campaigned to stop it. Both are running in this coming election.

Extortion cases have only continued to grow and continue to impact many South Asian businesses and families. In 2024, nine extortions were reported to the SPS which jumped to 133 cases in 2025. As of late September, there have been 142 cases this year, with 44 extortions in January alone.

Whoever wins the upcoming election will inherit a new policing agency that must catch up to Surrey’s growing policing needs before the city’s issues worsen.