After months of speculation and controversy, the full Surrey Policing Transition Report has been released to the public.
The City of Surrey’s proposed transition plan to convert from RCMP expects the force will “go live” on April 1, 2021 and its operating costs will be $192.5 million that year.
That’s a 10.9-per-cent increase from the $173.6 million the city projects the RCMP would cost that year.
Between 2019-20122, the plan proposes to spend $11.8 million on recruiting and equipment, $7.6 million on IT systems and facilities and $0.4 million on vehicle transition.
The “phased staff transition” is expected to cost $3.3 million in 2019, $8.6 million in 2020, $7.1 million in 2021 and $0.3 million in 2022.
Currently, Surrey RCMP has 843 members although the city report says 51 of those positions are vacant, meaning a “funded strength” of 792 officers. There are also 302 City of Surrey employees supporting the RCMP.
The transition report suggests a municipal force of 805 police officers, 325 civilian positions and 20 Community Safety Personnel.
The report states that staff will increase by five per cent overall, that there will be a 16 per cent increase in frontline officers and a 29 per cent increase in school liaison and youth officers.
Read the full report below.
