SURREY residents and businessmen on Saturday expressed their support for a Surrey municipal police force as Mayor Doug McCallum was present at Punjab Banquet Hall to respond to any inquiries.
Surrey-ites expressed their disgust and anger at the shameless tactics being used by Councillor Linda Annis who has been using the widow of a victim of the gang violence to frighten people against replacing the RCMP. The investigation into that murder is being conducted by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) – as are the other homicides and it makes no difference if the RCMP leave or stay on. Annis is being condemned for her scare tactics that are being called cruel to the victims.
Residents also point out that if Surrey-ites were against a Surrey police force they would never have elected McCallum.
People are also condemning councillors Brenda Locke and Jack Hundial, a former RCMP officer, for using McCallum to get elected and then turning against him. They want the two to resign and run again for election.
I fully support a Surrey Police Force. The Surrey RCMP have zero talent for setting priorities. After 22 years in New Westminster without any incident, here in Surrey I was thrown in the drunk tank because I was trying to buy liquor one minute late, a police cruiser with two cops stopped and carded me because I was smoking a cigarette to close to the door of the bank.
This all in a neighborhood filled with drug addicts, drug dealers, property theft, gang violence, muggings, shootings. I could go on and on.
Yet nearly a thousand dollars in policing costs because I’m… smoking a cigarette outside a bank.
The RCMP’s belligerent “we are the police we can do whatever we want” attitude has got to be a training issue, because it’s largely systemic. Look for the video of a police officer shooting someone’s unthreatening dog because it was barking and the senior officer didn’t like the noise.
Transit police aren’t any better. We need the ability to call the police – on the police. When it gets to that, it’s time to give this force the heave-ho.
I never had any negative issues with New Westminster Police or VPD, other than VPD wrote me a really dumb ticket one night downtown.