surrey mayor locke announces public safety plan at state of the city address
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surrey mayor brenda locke made public safety in the city her main priority at her state of the city address on thursday afternoon.
the annual speech by the mayor at the sheraton vancouver guildford hotel was her final one before the fall municipal election.
“i know there are families and businesses who have felt afraid, then angry and very frustrated,” locke told the crowd. “they deserve action, not excuses, not jurisdictional finger-pointing. they need action because extortion and organized crimes do not stop at municipal boundaries.”
while one of her challengers in the upcoming election, doug mccallum, criticized locke on policing right before the event, the mayor spent the majority of her time onstage boasting about the work she’s done so far in public safety and what she plans on doing moving forward.
locke told the sold-out crowd of her plans to hire 560 staff in policing, fire, bylaw and other related areas over the next five years if she’s re-elected in october. the mayor didn’t provide additional details on this promise or a breakdown of exactly how many police, fire and bylaw officers she plans on hiring.
“that means more visible presence in neighbourhoods, more ability to respond to real problems that face our city,” locke said. “it also allows police officers to focus on the most serious criminal activity.”
additionally, the mayor announced a new public safety training facility. the campus would be six hectares in the anniedale-tynehead area, where police, firefighters and emergency personnel can train, locke said.
“i know some people like to talk about helicopters,” the mayor said, likely referring to mccallum’s campaign promise of purchasing a dedicated helicopter for surrey police if he’s elected.
“the surrey police service already has access to a helicopter when it is needed. the future of public safety is not about chasing yesterday’s technology. it’s about building the next generation of tools for a fast-growing city like surrey.”
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the mayor also announced an expansion of police, fire and bylaw facilities in city centre, south surrey and cloverdale, as well as purchasing ai drones for police.
when asked by the media after her speech her reaction to criticism she has received for not providing surrey police with the full funding the department asked for initially, locke said her new announcement is exactly what the city needs.
“there is no question that there is a public safety challenge in this city right now, but also right across this region and certainly in this country,” she told reporters. “there’s going to be lots of criticism thrown all over the place because people are actively in an election, and have been, some of them, for over a year. but all i can say is, surrey is moving forward.”
locke also told the media that the sps is in the process of purchasing ai drones.
she also took the opportunity during her speech to criticize metro vancouver, standing behind her decision to sue metro over claims that it overstepped when it created an economic development agency.
“metro van needs to get back to basics. it needs stronger accountability. it needs better transparency and financial discipline and a governance structure that reflects the reality of the region,” locke said. “surrey doesn’t fit into the metro vancouver model, and it’s costing our taxpayers.”
the mayor also reiterated her commitment to underway plans, like the controversial medical clinics being opened in city-owned buildings, projected to cost surrey taxpayers $100,000 each year per clinic.
“the city isn’t taking over health care,” locke said. “we’re not paying family doctors, that remains the province’s responsibility, but we are helping with the space, the partnerships, the approvals, and the co-ordination and the momentum.”
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the mayor also addressed the transit plans of her competition in the election, including mccallum’s skytrain desires instead of bus rapid transit, and coun. linda annis’s plan for light rail transit, also instead of bus rapid transit.
“lrt makes zero sense anyway for surrey, it would operate very much like brt, but on tracks. so realistically, lrt would take more than a decade to complete and skytrain would probably take more than two decades to complete,” she said.
locke used the latter end of her speech to point to already announced projects, like a rental housing project next to scott road station, the 10,000-seat entertainment and sports arena, and her desire again to create a community charter for surrey.
“we’re one of the most important cities in all of western canada. we are the economic engine of this province, and it’s really time we started being treated that way,” locke said.
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