THE Surrey Police Union on Thursday raised urgent concerns following a last-minute Surrey Police Board meeting in which $46,954,590 was set to be cut from the policing budget, including $13,806,182 in staffing reductions.

With benefits, the average annual cost of a police officer is $158,510, meaning the staffing reduction alone represents the annual cost of approximately 87 officers, before considering impacts to police equipment, information technology, and facilities, the SPU said.

“Cutting nearly $47 million from policing at the eleventh hour, while Surrey is facing an extortion crisis and while SPS is being asked to expand operations and assume additional districts, is reckless,” said Ryan Buhrig, President of the Surrey Police Union. “You cannot demand more policing, more visibility, and more capacity, while simultaneously gutting the resources needed to deliver it.”

The Surrey Police Union warns that budget cuts of this magnitude will inevitably translate into reduced capacity and diminished service, and the public deserves clear, direct answers about what will change.

SPU said that residents should be asking the Surrey Police Board:
• Will police still attend lower priority calls for service, like thefts or noise complaints?
• Will critical teams be reduced or collapse entirely, including School Liaison and Mental Health units?
• Will there be fewer officers available for patrol and proactive policing in neighbourhoods?
• What investigative and community safety priorities will be delayed, scaled back, or eliminated?

“At minimum, the Police Board must publicly disclose what services will be cut,” Buhrig added. “The community should not learn about reductions only after response times rise, proactive patrol drops, or specialized supports disappear.”

These cuts come as public officials and police leaders continue to highlight the seriousness and scale of extortion-related threats and violence affecting Surrey businesses and residents. At the same time, SPS continues to take on greater policing responsibilities across Surrey’s remaining districts as the Director of Police Services ordered the expansion into District 4 by April 1.

The Surrey Police Union also raises serious concerns about governance and transparency at the Surrey Police Board.

On Wednesday, the Surrey Police Union sent a letter to the Surrey Police Board outlining concerns about passing a budget through a rushed, last-minute process without clear disclosure to the public about operational impacts and service reductions.

The SPU said that today, those transparency concerns worsened. The Police Board refused to provide the public access to the open portion of the meeting, despite Section 8 of the Municipal Police Board Meeting Regulations, which requires the Board to provide a link where the public may watch and hear open portions of the meeting.