The police transition is in year eight, the SPS are stretched because of Brenda Locke’s delays, and need more time and resources: Linda Annis
Surrey, B.C. (May 5, 2026): Surrey First councillor and candidate for mayor Linda Annis says if she was mayor, she’d be meeting with the Surrey Police Service to find out what extra resources they need to push back on recent shootings, including yesterday’s deadly daytime killing, and she’d also be asking the province for more time to meet the rest of the transition schedule.
“I’d want to know what extra resources and assistance the SPS needed to deal with these shootings, and that includes asking the province for more time to finalize the police transition,” added Annis. “In 2022, Mayor Locke stopped the transition and told the SPS to stop hiring. Then she took the provincial government to court in a costly and failed attempt to derail the transition. That political interference cost time and money, and hurt recruitment. Meanwhile, this year, she cut the police budget by $47 million. The SPS is doing its best to try and catch up after all of Brenda Locke’s attempts to stop or derail the transition, but with these shootings and extortion cases, there’s no question they are stretched. The fact is, trying to meet a transition deadline is not as important as making sure our police have the resources, time and people they need to make Surrey safe.”
Annis said the city’s police department should get immediate, real-time access to the more than 600 city traffic cameras, and Surrey should add 600 security cameras across the city. She also wants another 300 police officers, and a police training centre in Surrey to speed up recruitment.
“Vancouver has about 1400 officers, Surrey has just 800, even though our populations are almost identical,” explained Annis. “In addition, we’re the size of Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby combined. That’s a lot of ground to cover, and the need for more officers is absolutely essential. The fact is, public safety has to be the city’s number one priority, because if your city is not safe, nothing else matters. If I was mayor, I’d have the SPS and provincial government on speed dial, because as mayor you have a responsibility to know what’s going on, know what your police need, and know how and when to get the province involved so they can help when needed.”