Surrey Police Board slammed for \u2018gag\u2019 order on what chief can say to media<\/p>\n
Published 10:10 am Thursday, June 18, 2026<\/p>\n
The embattled Surrey Police Board is facing heavy criticism after its members voted in favour June 17 of a governance committee recommendation to rope in what the Surrey Police Service chief constable and other senior executives can say to news media and \u201cstakeholders\u201d related to matters of police governance, oversight, board direction, organizational priorities and decisions involving the provincial government and city hall.<\/p>\n
The governance committee recommendation, contained in a report entitled Executive Communications on Intergovernmental Affairs and Governance Matters, states its purpose is to \u201censure alignment between the board and management\u201d by establishing guidelines for comment and \u201cprohibits comments that reflect on intergovernmental affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among principles stated are focusing on \u201cinforming, not influencing or critiquing governance decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunications on governance issues and intergovernmental affairs are the purview of the Surrey Police Board,\u201d the approved report states.<\/p>\n
Former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, who is running once again as mayoral candidate for the Safe Surrey Coalition, said the directive will bar the chief constable and senior officers from criticizing the mayor, board and provincial government and is a move to \u201ccontrol the narrative\u201d before voters go to the polls on October 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us be clear about what is happening here,\u201d McCallum stated in a press release. \u201cFour months before an election, Brenda Locke\u2019s board is moving to gag the police. They want to put a muzzle on the Chief. They want to silence the officers who protect this city. And they are doing it for one reason. Brenda Locke wants to control the narrative before Surrey votes. She cannot have police officers telling the public the truth about public safety while she is asking that same public for her job back.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCallum noted the board\u2019s former chairman Harley Chappell, who resigned after chief constable Norm Lipinski was fired, had \u201ctold this city the political tentacles had gone too far. He resigned over it. People wondered if he was exaggerating,\u201d said McCallum.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere is my promise to the men and women of the Surrey Police Service,\u201d McCallum added. \u201cNo officer in this city will ever be gagged for telling the public the truth about their safety. Not on my watch. I built the Surrey Police Service to serve the people of Surrey, not to protect a politician\u2019s re-election.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2002, when McCallum was heading into a third election run for mayor, on a law-and-order platform, Surrey had just been dubbed the car-theft capital of North America followed by Phoenix, Arizona. Roughly midway through his nine-year run as mayor, McCallum was accused of leaning on the Surrey RCMP <\/a>to suppress information it released to the public \u2013 in effect, trying to boost Surrey\u2019s image by censoring press releases about crime in the city.<\/p>\n McCallum denied this up and down amid a flurry of newspaper headlines at the time like \u201cRCMP asked to keep city\u2019s crime woes under wraps,\u201d \u201cMayor denies cop gag order: E-mail hints otherwise,\u201d \u201cMayor denies trying to stop RCMP press releases on crime in the area,\u201d \u201cKeeping the lid on crime news,\u201d \u201cMcCallum contacted RCMP about Surrey image,\u201d \u201cSurrey Mounties vow they won\u2019t be gagged by mayor\u201d and, finally, \u201cMayor sorry for meddling with police.\u201d<\/p>\n