Terminating Chief Norm Lipinski is a politically motivated decision that makes our city less safe: Councillor Linda Annis
Surrey, B.C. (June 2, 2026): Surrey First councillor and candidate for mayor Linda Annis says media reports that Chief Norm Lipinski has been ousted as the head of the Surrey Police Service raises troubling questions about Brenda Locke’s four-year campaign to stop, stall and derail the police transition, which is now in year eight because of her bad decisions.
“The mayor’s opposition to the Surrey Police Service is well known, and you only have to look back at her four-year term to see how much time, effort and money she has put into ending the transition and getting rid of our local police service,” said Annis. “When she was first elected, she told the SPS to stop hiring new officers, then she took the provincial government to court, and a few weeks ago she cut the police budget by $47 million, just when we need our Surrey Police Service the most. Chief Lipinski’s termination by the mayor’s recent handpicked police board is another tragic example of how her political interference and personal vendetta against our local police department is making our city unsafe.”
Annis said the dismissal of Lipinski means the transition’s timing will be further impacted, and the leadership disruption at the SPS is not good for morale or public safety.
“The mayor has treated the SPS like a political football, and that has to be hard on the men and women of our police department,” noted Annis. “Chief Lipinski and the men and women of the SPS have done an incredible job in the face of the mayor’s constant opposition, interference and budget cuts,” noted Annis. “Instead of being a champion for our local police service, the mayor has been its biggest opponent, and the termination of Chief Lipinski is one more example of how she puts politics ahead of public safety.”
Annis, who wants to hire 300 more officers and build a police training centre in Surrey to speed up recruiting and training, says public safety has to be job one for Surrey’s mayor, because without it, nothing else matters.
“Brenda Locke has spent her entire four years trying to undo the police transition, and that means she has ignored every other opportunity and issue in our city, and it shows,” explained Annis. “Chief Lipinski and every one of the men and women of the Surrey Police Service deserved a mayor who had their backs and provided the resources they needed to keep us safe. I’m sorry they have never felt that in our current mayor. The men and women of the SPS and the people of Surrey both deserve better.”
