Surrey-commissioned poll finds about half of residents want to keep RCMP

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Of those surveyed, 46 per cent said they want to retain the Surrey RCMP while 29 per cent said they want to see the transition to the Surrey Police Service completed.

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Surrey Police Service officers at the scene of a traffic accident. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG

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A new poll commissioned by the City of Surrey shows almost half of those surveyed want to stick with the Surrey RCMP, while less than a third want to continue the transition to a municipal police service. However, after respondents were asked questions were shaped by Surrey city staff -- and which some say were skewed in favour of retaining the RCMP -- support for the Mounties rose to 64 per cent. Advertisement 2

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Surrey councillor Linda Annis called the poll "politically motivated" and the only way to really know how Surrey residents feel about the future of policing is through a referendum, something she's long called for. "I think the questions are manipulated in such a way to take you to the conclusion that the RCMP is what the choice should be," said Annis, who opposes Mayor Brenda Locke's attempts to stop the transition to the Surrey Police Service. The poll is part of a £500,000 taxpayer-funded advertising campaign led by Locke to convince city taxpayers that the B.C.

NDP government's forced transition to the Surrey Police Service is to blame for rising police costs and property tax hikes. Locke defended the poll and advertising campaign, saying it's the only way Surrey residents can get the full picture on what a transition to a municipal force will cost and the resulting property tax increases. The information war between the City of Surrey and the provincial government continues against a backdrop of a provincial election year and in a key political battleground.

The B.C. NDP holds seven of the nine provincial ridings in Surrey, many of which are swing ridings that will be closely fought with the addition of the B.C. Conservatives as an official party.

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This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The new Leger poll surveyed 505 people between Nov.

30 and Dec.

13. Its sampling accuracy is plus or minus 4.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20 and the survey data was weighted to ensure it reflects the age, gender, ethnic, mother tongue, and geographic population of Surrey residents. Of those surveyed, 46 per cent said they want to retain the Surrey RCMP while 29 per cent said they want to see the transition to the Surrey Police Service completed.

A quarter of those surveyed said they were unsure. One section of the survey, which asked respondents to agree or disagree with certain statements, echo comments made by Locke in recent months. Those questions include:

o "The provincial government should provide detailed cost projections and make it clear how much local property taxpayers will pay for policing for the next 10-20 years." o "Soon to be British Columbia's largest city, Surrey should be treated with more respect by the provincial government." o "Since the provincial government has decided to unilaterally impose the Surrey Police Service on the City, it should provide the full difference in funding, over the long-term, between replacing the RCMP and establishing and operating the new Surrey Police Service."

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Article content Three quarters of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed with those statements. Andrew Enns, Leger executive vice-president and who carried out the poll, said Surrey officials did have input on some of the questions in the poll.

"They paid for the survey so they had some involvement in drafting the questions," said Enns, adding that he had no direct involvement with Locke or any elected officials. The poll found 60 per cent of those surveyed agreed that the City of Surrey is justified in launching a legal challenge against the province's attempts to force the transition. And 69 per cent of those surveyed oppose raising property taxes to pay for the transition.

The survey found that after respondents were presented with the additional information about the city's concerns about the transition, those who preferred to keep the RCMP rose to more than 64 per cent. Support for continuing the transition shrunk to 22 per cent and only 14 per cent said they were unsure. Annis has been critical of the advertising campaign that includes large billboards criticizing the transition plan and mailed flyers that say the "NDP police transition" will cost £446 million more over 10 years.

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Article content The NDP government has disputed that figure. An analysis by the province found the Surrey Police Service would cost £30 million more than the RCMP annually, less than the figure cited in the city advertising.

Annis doesn't think the city should be spending money on "political rhetoric" and was concerned the flyer mailed to households does not say it came from the city. "It just doesn't seem something that we should be entering into with taxpayer money," Annis said. "We should be partnering with the provincial government, not throwing up these kinds of attacks." Locke disagreed, saying the city is doing its due diligence in making sure Surrey residents have all the information about the police transition and the potential costs.

"From my perspective, this should have all been done at the front end. We are we are playing catch up with a process that was never really done properly from the beginning," she said. "The true cost of the transition was never disclosed to the residents." The B.C. government has offered £150 million to aid with the transition, but Surrey has rejected that, with Locke saying it is nowhere near enough.

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Article content Hamish Telford, a political-science professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, said the advertising spending wouldn't violate rules around election campaign financing and third-party advertising because it's well outside the election period. However, Telford said it is unusual for a municipality to be so publicly critical of a provincial government, given the power the province has over municipalities.

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References

^ News (vancouversun.com)
^ Local News (vancouversun.com)
^ [email protected] (vancouversun.com)
^ [email protected] (vancouversun.com)
^ Mayor Brenda Locke 'not in a great rush' to deal with imposed Surrey police budget (vancouversun.com)
^ City of Surrey says province's suspension of police board is unconstitutional (vancouversun.com)
^ B.C. asks court to dismiss Surrey case challenging switch to Surrey Police Service from RCMP (vancouversun.com)
^ VancouverSun.com (vancouversun.com)
^ TheProvince.com (theprovince.com)
^ sign up for our newsletters here (vancouversun.com)
^ The Vancouver Sun (vancouversun.com)
^ The Province (theprovince.com)