News
Too few police in high crime Surrey

Jan 14 2014

SURREY – As police keep searching
for the killer of Surrey hockey mom
Julie Paskall, the contrast between the
city’s crime rate and its understaffed
police force becomes more glaring.

Surrey has one of B.C.’s highest crime
rates, but ranks just 31st in the province when it comes to police officers per capita.

Vancouver had six homicides in 2013,
while Surrey had 25. In 2012, Vancouver had a Crime Severity Index of 103.4, while Surrey’s severe-crime rate was 129.9.

Yet according to 2012 Statistics Canada
data, Vancouver had 202 police officers per 100,000 population, while Surrey had just 137 cops for same population sample.

Add it all up and Surrey had more than
300 per cent more murders and 25 per cent more severe crime, but 47 per cent fewer cops per capita than Vancouver.

It’s not a reassuring picture for Surrey
residents shocked by the unsolved beating
death of Paskall, bludgeoned outside the
Newton Recreation Centre in an apparently random robbery attempt on Dec. 29.

Other B.C. cities with less crime but
more cops per capita than Surrey include
New Westminster, West Vancouver, Delta,
Port Moody, Victoria, Kamloops, Nanaimo,
Central Saanich, Squamish, Vernon, Nelson, Castlegar, Kitimat and Trail.

How did Surrey end up so far down the
list of police resources? By failing to hire
enough cops, according to the city’s own
official plan.

“Ensure police resources keep pace with
population growth,” reads a key recommendation in the Surrey Crime Reduction Strategy, endorsed by city council in 2006.

The report calls on the city to “continue
its commitment to allocate resources to police services in proportion to the city’s overall growth as a minimum of one officer to every 700 residents or better.”

The city is 45 officers short of that
goal, noted Surrey city councillor Barinder
Rasode.

“I think it’s time to review our targets,”
she told the Surrey Leader.

Mayor Dianne Watts admits the city has
struggled to meet demands of a booming
population.

“It’s been a challenge keeping up with
the growth,” Watts said. “I can always use
more police officers.”

But she noted the city already devotes
half its budget to public safety and “police
costs have been escalating.”

It would cost another $6.75 million a
year to beef up Surrey’s RCMP detachment to the strength recommended in the city’s own plan.

The patchwork of unevenly distributed
police services throughout the region cries
out for police-force amalgamation.

Communities such as Delta — with 65
per cent less crime and eight per cent more cops than Surrey — are not likely to surrender the superior services they enjoy.

(The Province)