Following the decision to remove Lipinski, and the resignation of two police board directors, including the chair, McCallum has accused Locke of a “takeover” of the police board. The decision to remove Lipinski came after five new board members were appointed 10 weeks ago by the province in consultation with the City of Surrey. The two board members who resigned were previous appointments made without input from the city. Locke has said she was not aware ahead of time Lipinski would be removing, saying city
hall is not involved in those decisions. Another mayoral candidate, Mike Starchuk, a former NDP MLA, has said there should be an investigation into the board’s decision to fire Lipinski so soon after his contract was renewed in October. Linda Annis, a Surrey city councillor and mayoral candidate, has said the decision to remove Lipinski seemed politically motivated and undertaken by the mayor’s “hand-picked” board. She blamed the mayor for prolonging the transition even further. Locke has been at odds with Lipinski on several occasions,
at one point holding up hiring for the fledgling police force and more recently criticizing the police force when it reassigned its gang unit as it took over policing of Cloverdale, which Lipinski said it did not yet have enough officers to do.
Surrey, police board, Lipinski, Locke, McCallum, Starchuk, Annis, Cloverdale, gang unit, mayoral election, investigation
So they just fired him?? Sounds shady.
I don’t even get how the mayor appoints and then says they had nothing to do with it. Like what, just coincidence? Also “takeover” is a big word.
If they renewed his contract in October and then removed him like 10 weeks after new people got appointed, that timing is brutal. Sounds like political games more than police stuff. And the gang unit Cloverdale thing… I’m sure that got messy too, but I feel like nobody reads the actual details.
This is why I don’t trust city hall at all. Even the board stuff sounds like a power grab. Mike Starchuk calling for an investigation makes sense but knowing politics it’ll go nowhere. Next thing you know the police force is just getting reorg’d again and people act like it’s “transition” not chaos.