In Peace Arch News June 18 I read, with concern, about a Surrey city councillor who is running with our former mayor Doug McCallum for office in the next election. According to the PAN article, Councillor Nagra is in violation of several legal obligations over several years. In an interview on TV I heard Mr. McCallum accuse our incumbent mayor of interfering with the Surrey Police Board decision to fire the SPS chief, without giving any factual evidence to substantiate that. The police board is
wholly appointed by the provincial government without influence from Surrey municipality. Let’s not forget that, without public consultation, it was Mr. McCallum and Mr. Farnworth who forced the change in policing Surrey which had been successfully conducted for many, many years by RCMP. The new policing model has, and will continue to, cost Surrey taxpayers many millions of extra dollars forever, in comparison to the RCMP. The latest crime stats in Surrey show that in almost every area there has been an increase in crime.
One has to ask, with all the extra ongoing cost to taxpayers, where is the benefit of the change in policing Surrey?
Surrey Police Board, SPS chief, Doug McCallum, Surrey policing model, RCMP, Nagra, Farnworth, crime statistics
This is why nothing ever gets fixed.
So wait, was the councillor actually doing something wrong or is this just politics? I saw the clip and it sounded like Doug McCallum was just throwing accusations like confetti, but maybe there’s a paper trail? Crime seems up everywhere though, so idk.
The police switching part is what gets me. They said RCMP was “working for many years” and then suddenly costs go up forever? Like how is that even legal if it’s not improving anything. Also the numbers about crime—almost every area—okay but which categories? Cuz my cousin says it’s actually better now but idk.
Honestly it feels like they just changed the badge and called it progress. Like Doug McCallum can yell “interfering” but the police board is provincial right, so who even controls what? And if Nagra is “in violation” for years, why is this only coming out now? I don’t trust the crime stats either, they always cherry pick like “increase” but maybe population’s up or something. Either way Surrey taxpayers got robbed with that policing model and that’s the bottom line.