Days after another gang-related shooting south of the Fraser River, police and an MLA are raising questions about how resources are managed.
The concerns come after a fatal shooting in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood Tuesday evening, which investigators believe is connected to the B.C. gang conflict.
The Surrey Police Service (SPS) confirmed it recently had to reassign the eight officers working in the dedicated gang unit to staff other areas.
Police say they weren’t happy about the reassignment, but had no choice, given the timeline to take over policing in Cloverdale and Port Kells, and the requirement to staff the city’s Extortion Task Force.
“We were ordered by the Superintendent of Policing to fully take over District 4 on April 1, instead of implementing a phased approach, as we had requested and done with District 5 (South Surrey), which would not have resulted in SPS having to temporarily reassign officers,” said SPS Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton.
Elenore Sturko, independent MLA for Surrey Cloverdale and former Surrey RCMP officer, says rushing the police transition has forced the SPS to strain to provide the services the city desperately needs.
“Prior to the police transition, we had the combined forces special enforcement unit from the province, and we had a local gang enforcement team,” said Sturko.
“This is mismanagement by the NDP, who are legally obligated to ensure that there is adequate and effective policing in Surrey.”
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She blames the province for rushing the police transition and leaving major holes, which she says have compromised public safety.
“Under the watch of this government, they have allowed our gang-enforcement team to be repurposed in a city that clearly has a problem with firearms and vehicles, has a problem with shootings, and has a problem with gang violence,” Sturko said.
“It’s reprehensible, and the minister needs to take immediate action.”
Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger did say the gang enforcement unit hasn’t been dismantled, but just put on pause to focus on extortion.
“There’s been operational decisions made by the Surrey Police Services to temporarily reallocate officers, which is quite a standard operational decision,” said Krieger.
“Surrey police are reinforced in their work every day by the BC RCMP, and also when it comes to combating gang violence by CFSCU, a Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, which is the largest integrated unit combating gang and gun violence in the country.”
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Sturko says police need all the resources they can get to fight back against crime.
“One of the ways that Surrey fought back against gang violence was by having a gang enforcement team that has been very effective for years at helping reduce the level of violence and reducing shootings and getting dangerous people off the street,” she said.