LETTER: How has Surrey’s police transition helped residents?
Published 7:30 am Sunday, June 28, 2026
Editor,
In Peace Arch News June 18 I read, with concern, about a Surrey city councillor who is running with our former mayor Doug McCallum for office in the next election. According to the PAN article, Councillor Nagra is in violation of several legal obligations over several years.
In an interview on TV I heard Mr. McCallum accuse our incumbent mayor of interfering with the Surrey Police Board decision to fire the SPS chief, without giving any factual evidence to substantiate that. The police board is wholly appointed by the provincial government without influence from Surrey municipality.
Let’s not forget that, without public consultation, it was Mr. McCallum and Mr. Farnworth who forced the change in policing Surrey which had been successfully conducted for many, many years by RCMP. The new policing model has, and will continue to, cost Surrey taxpayers many millions of extra dollars forever, in comparison to the RCMP.
The latest crime stats in Surrey show that in almost every area there has been an increase in crime. One has to ask, with all the extra ongoing cost to taxpayers, where is the benefit of the change in policing Surrey?
Bill Hastie, Surrey