Dear Mayor Locke,
Re: Termination of Chief Norm Lipinski, Surrey Police Service
I am writing to you today in the hope that you will be willing to provide the residents of Surrey with answers to some fundamental questions about the police transition during your term as mayor, including last week’s termination of Chief Norm Lipinski.
It should come as no surprise that our residents and taxpayers believe that they deserve answers about the sudden termination of their chief of police, the questionable actions of your hand-picked police board, the dramatic and troubling resignation of the police board chair, your $47 million cut to the SPS budget earlier this year, and your plans to replace Chief Lipinski.
While I expect that you will suggest my questions should be directed to the police board, I respectfully point out that you have been part of all of these issues over the course of your term, starting with your election night comments to Global News on October 15, 2022, that SPS inspectors and the chief would be fired.
Then, over your four-year term you ordered the SPS to stop hiring and refused to pay new officers, you took the provincial government to court and lost, you cut the SPS budget by $47 million, and then you hand-picked the current board which ousted Chief Lipinski and named one of your own city councillors as chair.
By any reasonable measure, it is clear that you have been actively involved in both the transition, its long-overdue completion, and the recent departure of the chief. Consequently, it is only fair to our fellow citizens of Surrey that you provide some answers and details, particularly when so much is at stake for our city and the safety of our residents and businesses.
1. Why on election night 2022 did you tell Global that inspectors and the chief would be fired?
2. Was this decision the start of an orchestrated campaign against the SPS and Chief Lipinski?
3. Why did you order the SPS to stop hiring, then refuse to pay new recruits?
4. How much did the City’s failed legal fight with the provincial government cost Surrey taxpayers?
5. The transition is in year eight, how many of those years were added because of your ongoing opposition to the transition?
6. Why did you cut $47 million from the SPS budget at a time when gun violence and extortionists were terrorizing Surrey?
7. Did you provide the provincial government with a list of SPS board appointments acceptable to you?
8. Do you believe that the mayor of Surrey should approve every SPS board appointment?
9. The City of Surrey is meant to have only two board appointments — one from the city and one from the community — why has that changed and why do you have the power to approve any and all appointments?
10. The SPS board is meant to be free from political interference, why then is Councillor Rob Stutt from your political party its new chair?
11. The new board is the fourth in just six years and was on the job for just 10 weeks when they terminated Chief Lipinski. Do you believe they had the expertise or experience to terminate the chief, and do so without any advance notice to the mayor of Surrey?
12. Was Chief Lipinski terminated without cause, or did he resign?
13. Why was he let go, and was there any contact between the SPS board, you or your office, or the city manager regarding the termination?
14. How much of the $250 million committed by the Province of BC to the transition has been spent, and how was it spent?
15. How much is Chief Lipinski’s severance, including legal costs?
16. Has the firing of the chief caused much-needed recruitment of new officers to dry up?
17. Will you be asking your hand-picked police board to appoint a current or former RCMP member as the new SPS chief?
We both know that when a city is not safe, nothing else matters. Like everyone on council you and I serve the people of Surrey, and they have been shaken by the departure of their chief of police. At the same time, ongoing gang and extortion violence has stretched the current capacity of the SPS, which is doing everything it can to recruit officers as quickly as possible.
That is why it is important that every mayor of Surrey, regardless of their personal politics, have a strong, honest, and collaborative working relationship with our community’s police service.
Unfortunately, that has not been the case during your term as mayor, and why answers to these questions are so important to getting the truth, providing valuable updates, ensuring stability, and giving hope to our residents that politics will not interfere with the dedicated and professional policing that Surrey needs and deserves.
Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you as quickly as your schedule allows.
Sincerely,
Councillor Linda Annis
City of Surrey