Editor:
There has much much discussion and contradictory opinions about how much it will cost to either keep the RCMP in Surrey and disband the Surrey Police Service, or to just go with the SPS as Surrey’s policing model.
There is one glaring cost – which I have never seen mentioned anywhere – surrounding the equipment that the SPS has, or does not yet have, and what are the implications of that.
The fact is, regarding police vehicles, the SPS does not have any vehicles as yet, save for the sole mock-up cruiser that Doug McCallum liked to be pictured with. Imagine what a fleet of new police vehicles and all the electronics they contain will cost? I have not seen any mention of this anywhere.
Also, the SPS does not yet have much of its own officer equipment, including guns, bullets, protective vests, tasers, as the RCMP is still the policing authority in Surrey and is equipping the current SPS members with these items.
I imagine the RCMP will want those things back if the SPS is chosen by the public safety minister.
The citizens of Surrey need to be more fully informed about these still-to-be-realized costs as well, not just how much it would cost to pay out surplus SPS members who choose not to transfer to the RCMP, or the costs of dismantling the current SPS bureaucracy already in place.
Those choosing to support the SPS probably have no idea, or don’t care, how much more this transition will really cost Surrey taxpayers.
Forest McCready, South Surrey