How police are tackling extortion cases in Surrey: Insight from the chief
Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Surrey’s police chief is offering reassurance to the public that law enforcement agencies are doing everything they can to fight extortion.
Chief Const. Norm Lipinski was part of a virtual provincial roundtable on extortion held Tuesday (May 12).
Paul Dadwal, chair of the community advisory group on extortion, hosted the event, which also included Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Nina Krieger, Delta Police Chief Harj Sidhu, Abbotsford Police Chief Colin Watson, CBSA Pacific Region director Nina Patel, and community advisory group member Baltej Singh Dhillon, who provided Punjabi language information and translation.
Lipinski addressed questions about how police release information about extortion cases.
Police in Surrey can often determine at the scene whether a shooting is extortion-related by checking their database to see whether a home or business has received extortion threats, said Surrey Police Chief Const. Norm Lipinski.
“We recognize that it’s important for the community to know whether it’s related to extortions or perhaps it could be some other criminal activity,” Lipinski said. “So we try and get it out there as soon as possible to notify the community, but also to get that intelligence or possible evidence to come back to us to further the investigation.”
This information, whether it’s believed to be extortion-related, is then distributed to senior management and the Surrey Police communications team.
Then, within 12 hours, but often sooner, police issue a press release about the shooting and state whether it is believed to be extortion-related or not.
Members of the public were able to submit questions to the panellists before hand. One individual submitted a question asking why the police are not releasing all the names of people charged with extortion-related crimes.
Lipinski said this is one of the most common questions he has gotten, and it comes down to adhering to the law in Canada.
Just because someone has been arrested and charged for extortion-related offences, police cannot release the photos without a “legitimate investigative reason to do so,” he said.
“The Surrey Police Service and other agencies have walked through the investigative steps that may be required to go through before we release the photo, and what we’re specifically looking for is to move that investigation forward.”
For example, Surrey Police has released photos of individuals in the past to see whether there were witnesses or other victims, which led to a number of tips that helped move an investigation forward.
“But we go through this assessment with our legal counsel and walk through the steps to ensure the legitimacy of the reason for releasing the photo,” he said. “When you further the investigation, it enhances public safety. If we can get to that individual with better evidence, or lead us to another file, lead us to another individual where there’s criminality, or perhaps it would be subject to removal from Canada.”
Although extortion-related crime is decreasing in British Columbia, and significant progress has been made in dealing with the perpetrators, law enforcement agencies will continue to keep the pressure on.
Dwayne McDonald, deputy commissioner of the BC RCMP and head of the B.C. Extortion Task Force, said the decrease that’s being seen in extortion-related crime in B.C. is due to the coordinated efforts of all the partners involved, including police forces and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
He said there has been “significant success” in terms of charges laid, removal of suspects and other suspects leaving the province of their own volition, as well as an increase in cooperation from victims and the community at large.
Surrey Police stated Monday (May 11) there have been 98 extortions reported, 16 extortion-related shootings, 51 victims (27 repeat) and 2 extortion-related arsons in the city in 2026.
Lipinski said uniformed and plain-clothed officers are out patrolling high-risk locations in Surrey.
“They go and do checks of the residences or the businesses, and they check them many times throughout the night,” he said. “Sometimes we are there overnight, parked out front, and that is to give that reassurance, that public trust that we are there for the community, that we protect the community.”
These officers are part of Project Assurance, Surrey Police’s “proactive response” to the extortion crisis in Surrey.
-With files from Julie MacLellan
READ MORE: Extortion-fighting efforts are showing success in B.C.: roundtable