SURREY, B.C.: For months, municipalities like Surrey have warned that extortion and violence are outpacing local capacity. The province should have surged resources long ago: helicopter support, investigators, and frontline RCMP, rather than staging photo-ops while communities absorb the consequences.
“Every other day, my community is facing another extortion threat or act of violence,” said Mandeep Dhaliwal, MLA for Surrey North. “I’ve met with business owners and families who are angry, scared, and exhausted. I’m sick and tired of attending funerals in my community while the Premier offers excuses. This situation is out of control, and so far, David Eby has failed to contain it.”
The province’s inability to deal with this crisis is a direct result of broken promises and their failure to make crime and safety a priority in British Columbia.
In 2023, the Eby government promised communities served by provincial police services, a $230-million increase in funding for communities served by provincial police services that was supposed to “help hire another 256 RCMP officers to enhance enforcement and crime prevention capacity.” However, according to the government’s own data, the authorized strength of the Provincial Police Service (RCMP) has remained basically stagnant since 2015 at 2,602.
“Premier Eby’s government made big promises but didn’t deliver the officers,” said Macklin McCall, Critic for Solicitor General and Public Safety. “It is a failure in provincial leadership when municipalities force the federal government to step in.”
In places like Comox, the RCMP is calling on the municipality to replace their aging detachment. This is despite the provincial government promising hundreds of millions to strengthen provincial policing over the last number of years.
“The Eby government makes a lot of announcements, but where is the action?”, Said Brennan Day, MLA for Courtney-Comox. “Communities have been on the frontlines as crime has continued escalating in nearly every region of B.C. Where is the money that the government promised?” added Day.
Background:
Budget 2023: Province announced $230M to add “another 256 RCMP officers” – https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023FIN0015-000244
Police Resources in B.C. 2024: Confirms the Provincial Police Service authorized strength shows the number of police has not changed since 2015; however, an endnote states the authorized strength was expanded by 15 in 2024 based on ‘an unprecedented, multi-year investment’.
In Comox municipality and Comox Valley Province, the authorized strength has remained at 12, and 19 respectively since 2015. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/law-crime-and-justice/criminal-justice/police/publications/statistics/bc-police-resources-2024.pdf
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Media Contact:
Francesca Guetchev, Press Secretary
Francesca.Guetchev@leg.bc.ca
+1 (672) 922-0948
