Editor:
Re: Smiley, no, effective, yes, Feb.3 letters.
When McCallum was mayor previously, crime in Surrey was at its highest and he requested the RCMP not to report it, so the citizens would be unaware.
Thankfully, Dianne Watts became mayor. Collaborating with the RCMP, she brought in a Strategic Policing Plan. Since then, the crime rate in Surrey has decreased on a yearly basis.
Our city is growing, we need more police officers and firefighters, but McCallum refuses to hire them. Instead, he wants to force on the citizens of Surrey a new municipal force with only 805 officers, that will cost a minimum of $250 million just for the transition costs alone.
He also claims it will cost only 10 per cent more (the subsidy we lose from not having RCMP). The salaries paid right now to the Surrey Police exceed the RCMP, so it will be more than 10 per cent.
The only reason given for this new police force has been because we are the only city without one. We have a police force already – our RCMP. We just need to approve the hiring of more officers.
And, regarding SkyTrain, is this gentleman aware that McCallum was a proponent for the LRT before, as it would connect our city make it easier for our citizens to move around, plus it was fully funded.
Suddenly, it’s cancelled, costing the city $47 million we now have to pay back to TransLink.
SkyTrain will only benefit the people travelling between Langley and Vancouver. What happens to residents in the north and south of our city? They get nothing.
He thinks McCallum is savings us billions. All I can see is the billions he’s wasting
Hilary Thomas, Surrey