Surrey Police Board warns of ‘risks’ in taking over Cloverdale so soon

The province has appointed five new members to the City of Surrey’s police board, a move that comes at a time when the Surrey Police Service is being forced to take over patrolling Cloverdale a few months earlier than it wanted.

The Lieutenant Governor has appointed the following to the board:

• Jaswinder (Jessie) Sidhu, regional vice-president, Bank of Montreal
• George Duncan, former chief administrative officer, Richmond
• Hanne Madsen, former executive director, Big Sisters of B.C. – Lower Mainland
• Larry Thomas, former chief, Surrey Fire Services
• Parminder (Perm) Jawanda, former vice-president, Rogers Communications

These members will be joining Surrey police board chair Harley Chappell, provincial appointee James Carwana, and Surrey council appointees Archie Johnston and Rob Stutt on the police board.

“Each member was chosen by aligning individual skills, competencies and attributes with the needs and responsibilities of the board, and to reflect the diversity of the community,” said a statement from the province.

The SPS takes over Cloverdale on April 1, after the province rejected SPS Chief Const. Norm Lapinsky’s request to delay the move as it works to adjust to the staffing demands of dealing with the extortion crisis.

“While the province’s decision is a vote of confidence in SPS, it comes at a time when SPS is still building capacity and has been dedicating resources to addressing an extortion crisis,” reads a statement issued by the board.

The statement admitted there are “risks” being faced by the April 1 deadline.

“The Surrey Police Board resolved to proceed with the District 4 transition as directed by the Province, acknowledging that there are risks which will need to be managed and mitigated.”

Initial board appointments will be for a term of 12 months, ending March 31, 2027.

In British Columbia, police boards oversee municipal police departments and include members from diverse backgrounds from the community and bring a range of skills and experiences to the boards. Police boards include:

a member of the city’s council, appointed by the council

one person (non-elected) appointed by the council

up to seven people chosen by the Lieutenant Governor after discussions and input from the director of policing and law enforcement services

Police board responsibilities include establishing the priorities, goals and objectives for the police service, serving as employer of all police department personnel, and developing and submitting the policing budget to council for approval each year.

Since June 2017, there has been an almost 100 per cent increase in visible minorities representing police boards throughout the province and 25 per cent of appointments have been people of colour (up from 12.5 per cent).