Surrey council endorses policing priorities report
Published 9:30 pm Monday, April 13, 2026
Surrey city council approved a 2026 Policing Priorities, Goals, and Objectives report Monday from public safety general manager Brian Edwards, formerly in charge of the Surrey RCMP before the Surrey Police Service replaced the Mounties.
Edwards said in his report before council that the priorities, goals and objectives are “responsive to community needs, while demonstrating a strong commitment to delivering efficient, accountable, and cost-effective policing services.”
He asked Mayor Brenda Locke to write to Surrey Police Board chairman Harley Chappell and Chief Constable Norm Lipinski outlining this strategy and for council to endorse collaboration with the board and SPS “to further refine said priorities in support of delivering a public strategy for 2027.”
The City of Surrey’s public safety department was established last August tasked with coordinating public safety services related to policing, firefighting, emergency management, bylaws enforcement and licencing, engineering, and parks, recreation and culture “while fostering strategic partnerships with the board and SPS,” Edwards noted in his report.
Council’s first priority for the police board and SPS, as contained in the report, is to complete the policing transition in a “timely, accountable, and financially prudent” way while maintaining “adequate and effective overall service delivery.”
The second priority is dealing with the extortion crisis, disrupting and dismantling organized crime networks driven by it. Priority number three is collaboration with an aim to “deliver integrated and aligned services,” and “where feasible, establish shared administrative services with the City of Surrey, to maximize the use of resources and gain financial efficiencies.”
“Explore strategies to collaborate with Bylaws to improve overall public safety in the City of Surrey,” Edwards added. “Collaborate with health partners to manage the impacts of mental health and drug addiction on public safety.”
The fourth priority as listed is developing a future policing model that includes engaging with council “in the development of a service delivery model that outlines future policing services.”
Other key considerations for the police board and SPS, Edwards added, are dealing with public nuisance and disorder; youth support and programming; communication and engagement with City residents; and property crime (including retail theft).
Councillor Doug Elford noted that the priorities are mandated by the Police Act “then we provide the priorities to the police board. There’s still some public consultation that has to happen.
“We’ll send these over to the police board and they’ll take it under advisement, right. It’s not we’re telling them what to do.”
The Surrey Police Board’s next meeting is set for April 30.
On Monday, during former mayor Doug McCallum’s presser where he declared his intention to enter the mayoralty race, McCallum said it “astonishes” him that “we have a whole department of public safety in the City when in fact we have our own police force which provides the public safety and it has its own board itself, too.”
During Monday’s council meeting Councillor Rob Stutt thanked Edwards for his “very fulsome and appropriate” report. “I think it shows that we are working in lockstep with the Surrey Police Board and the Surrey Police Service to carry through with our transition and represent the best interests of the people.”
“I think this is a great step forward,” Stutt said.