Surrey councillors slam Locke over reported Lipinski ouster

With other media reporting Surrey Police Service Chief Const. Norm Lipinski is being fired or must resign as chief, councillors and Surrey mayoral candidates Mike Starchuk and Linda Annis issued releases Tuesday morning blasting Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke for the reported ouster. Annis said the media reports that Lipinski has been ousted as the head of the SPS “raises troubling questions” about Locke’s four-year campaign to “stop, stall and derail the police transition, which is now in year eight because of her bad decisions.” Locke’s

opposition to the SPS is well-known, Annis continued, and added Lipinski’s termination by the mayor’s “recent hand-picked police board is another tragic example of how her political interference and personal vendetta against our local police department is making our city unsafe,” in the release. The dismissal of Lipinski — who has served as SPS chief since 2020 —means the transition’s timing will be further impacted, and the leadership disruption at the SPS is not good for morale or public safety, Annis continued. “The mayor has

treated the SPS like a political football, and that has to be hard on the men and women of our police department,” Annis said. “Chief Lipinski and the men and women of the SPS have done an incredible job in the face of the mayor’s constant opposition, interference and budget cuts. Instead of being a champion for our local police service, the mayor has been its biggest opponent, and the termination of Chief Lipinski is one more example of how she puts politics ahead of

public safety.” Starchuk also attacked Locke in a release, saying the mayor has “once again destabilized the Surrey Police Service transition — this time by enabling her newly constituted Surrey Police Board to fire Chief Norm Lipinski — after meetings held predominantly behind closed doors, with five new Locke-preferred board members leading the charge.” “Mayor Locke has been swinging a wrecking ball over Surrey’s police transition since day one. Now her hand-picked board — with less than 10 weeks of formal experience — has fired

the chief of police behind closed doors. Surrey families deserve to know who is really driving decisions at the Surrey police board,” Starchuk said in his release. Other media report Lipinski has until 4 p.m. Thursday (June 4) to resign or be terminated from his position without cause after he was placed on leave following a meeting on Monday morning (June 1) with the Surrey police board. Monday night, SPS senior media relations officer Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghten said SPS knew “nothing” about the ouster,

and deferred all questions to the SPS board. Peace Arch News has reached out to Mayor Brenda Locke, Coun. Rob Stutt, the council representative on the Surrey police board, and SPS board chair Harley Chappell.

Surrey Police Service, Norm Lipinski, Brenda Locke, Surrey Police Board, police transition, Mike Starchuk, Linda Annis, Harley Chappell