Editor:
Re: “Let’s make Farnworth’s call a Waterloo for long-fought Surrey policing war,” peacearchnews.com
I agree with Tom Zytaruk that with respect to the policing debacle “too much time and money has been spent on this controversy and Surrey needs to move on.” Multimillions in public funds have been spent, with multimillions more to come whatever Minister Farnworth decides.
I can also agree that we need to “rally under a common flag of ensuring public safety,” as Mr. Zytaruk puts it.
Unfortunately, the policing transition battles have given us a very limited notion of what constitutes community safety and how this relates to community health and wellness more broadly.
We should be asking ourselves seriously what really contributes to community wellbeing and safety. And what are the resources and services that we lack, or underfund, in Surrey that would make our city healthier and safer. This will take us beyond a limited focus on crime, to look at social harms (poverty, mental distress, youth unemployment, toxic drug supplies etc.) and underlying causes of those harms, so that we can address them proactively and positively rather than through the reactive framework of policing.
The transition mess has cost us time, and money, in this regard.
One note of caution based on what we have experienced with the transition. Mr. Zytaruk says, “public confidence in policing, is paramount.” This confidence must be earned.
Members of both forces have discredited themselves, “squabbling with one another” in an “at times petulant conflict,” as he puts it. After this, the public has every right and reason to be skeptical and to continue asking tough questions.
Dr. Jeff Shantz, KPU Surrey