“Police of jurisdiction” refers to the primary police agency that has law enforcement authority for municipal policing within a municipality’s geographic boundaries. On Nov. 29, 2024, Surrey’s police of jurisdiction will change from the RCMP to SPS, and SPS will become responsible for policing in Surrey. The RCMP, as the provincial police service, will still provide policing support in Surrey until the transition is completed. As SPS continues to increase in numbers and take over more policing areas, the RCMP will correspondingly reduce their services.

Surrey is changing its police of jurisdiction as part of the policing transition process that began when the City of Surrey decided to move to a municipal police service in 2018. Learn more about the history of the transition at www.surreypolice.ca/policing-transition.

The primary ways that residents and business owners access policing services in Surrey will not change. Police office locations and the main police phone numbers will stay the same, including 9-1-1, non-emergency (604-599-0502), and Victim Services (604-599-7600).

Your main online source of public safety information in Surrey will now be www.surreypolice.ca, and we also encourage you to follow us on X and Facebook for regular policing updates.

Not yet. Surrey’s policing transition will be completed when all policing duties in Surrey are conducted by SPS. The timeline for this will depend on several factors, including establishing a pace of SPS hiring that will allow the transition to ramp up while the RCMP reduces its support, as well as enhancing any infrastructure, and transferring files, and exhibits from the RCMP to SPS.

Although SPS will assume overarching responsibility for policing on Nov. 29, the policing transition plan calls for the BC RCMP Provincial Police Service to provide temporary policing supports in Surrey until SPS is fully established as a standalone policing service. This phased transition ensures stability in policing in Surrey, the Lower Mainland, and across the province. Residents will continue to see both SPS and RCMP officers and vehicles in Surrey until the transition is completed.

You will initially see a higher concentration of Frontline SPS officers in the Whalley/City Centre and Newton districts (serving approximately 50% of Surrey’s population), with RCMP Frontline officers in Guildford/Fleetwood, Cloverdale, and South Surrey. However, residents will see officers from both agencies across the city, performing various duties. For example, SPS officers will manage a number of city-wide services including traffic enforcement, the Car 67 mobile crisis response unit, emergency and operational planning, and community engagement. As well, RCMP officers will maintain conduct of most specialized policing services in Newton as well as the Criminal Crash Investigation Team, city-wide.  

As SPS continues to increase its staffing, SPS officers will take over the other policing districts, and RCMP officers will be demobilized from Surrey. Rest assured, while Frontline officers from both agencies will have “home” districts, our policing response will remain fluid, with officers being dispatched where and when required.

All civilian employees will continue their job functions with SPS, as employees of the Surrey Police Board. These individuals provide invaluable policing support services and will bring a wealth of experience, expertise, and community knowledge to SPS.

The main police phone numbers will stay the same, including 9-1-1 and non-emergency (604-599-0502). Police office locations will also remain the same.

All police buildings in Surrey will remain the same as they are owned or leased by the City of Surrey. SPS Headquarters (currently the Surrey RCMP Main Detachment) and the five Community Police Offices (currently the RCMP District Offices) will be in the same locations and have the same public hours

When there is a call for service that requires police attendance, either an SPS officer and/or an RCMP officer will attend.

If you wish to make a complaint about the service you received, who you contact will depend on which agency served you:

SPS Complaints

RCMP Complaints

There are a number of differences and benefits of municipal policing that include civilian oversight, more local control, and increased consistency as many officers spend their entire careers in the community. There is also increased transparency as SPS makes their budgets, expenditures, staffing levels, and collective agreements public. Learn more at www.surreypolice.ca/why-municipal-policing.  

SPS reports to an independent civilian police board that is appointed by the Province of BC. The Board is an independent body from both City Council and the provincial government, to ensure that your police service has proper oversight and is non-political. Learn more about the civilian oversight of SPS.

SPS's staffing is aligned with the City of Surrey's annual policing budget. Any future increase to the number of police officers in Surrey would be requested by the Chief Constable through the Surrey Police Board and require the approval of Surrey City Council.

SPS has three policing bureaus, Community Policing, Support Services, and Investigative Services, as well as the Office of the Chief Constable. In addition to providing a strong Frontline policing presence, SPS will have specialized teams to deal with specific issues that Surrey citizens identified as priorities during our community consultations. This includes teams dedicated to traffic enforcement, youth services, crisis prevention and intervention, gangs and organized crime, cybercrime, and more. Once the transition is completed, we will also have a dedicated District Inspector for each policing district who will work closely with that community to improve public safety. Learn more about SPS’s organizational structure.

Yes, SPS will become a municipal partner in the Lower Mainland Integrated Teams, beginning November 29, 2024. The five integrated teams provide specialized police services to a number of municipal police agencies and RCMP detachments in the region. These teams provide an efficient service delivery model and a coordinated response across the Lower Mainland for files and investigations that require a high degree of specialization.

• Integrated Homicide Investigative Team (IHIT)
• Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team (LMD ERT)
• Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service (ICARS)
• LMD Integrated Forensic Identification Services (LMD IFIS)
• Lower Mainland District Integrated Police Dog Service (LMD PDS)

Connecting with the community is at the forefront of our policing model. Our goal as a police service is to build authentic and trusting relationships between SPS and the diverse communities we serve. Our Community 1^st Unit, Youth Services Unit, and the proactive policing undertaken by all the teams that support each policing district ensures we are listening to all voices in the community. To find out more, visit the “Community Engagement” section of our website.

SPS will provide the public with regular updates on crime trends and public safety issues, as well as the work we are doing to address those issues. This will be done through news releases, public police board meetings, our bi-monthly e-newsletter, and social media (X and Facebook)

Our District Inspectors will also develop and maintain a close relationship with the community in their policing district. As of Nov. 29, SPS District Inspectors will be in place at the Community Police Offices for District 1 (Whalley/City Centre) and District 3 (Newton) – feel free to stop by and say hello!

SPS will maintain all youth programs currently run by the RCMP, in addition to various programs initiated by SPS. SPS will also continue to have School Liaison Officers – discussions with the Surrey School District (SD36) are underway to determine future initiatives and plans between SD36 and SPS.

SPS will continue to offer all regular front counter services at the public police offices in Surrey, including fingerprinting and Police Information Checks (PIC).

SPS will provide existing programs and services that support victims, clients, residents, and businesses. We will also continue targeted engagement and outreach to reach diverse cultural groups, new residents, youth, vulnerable populations, and seniors. As SPS continues to grow and learn more about Surrey’s needs, new programs and services will be launched in collaboration with the community and local partners.

Yes, SPS will continue to support and maintain the Block Watch program here in Surrey. Block Watch is an excellent crime prevention program that builds strong community-police partnerships.

First and foremost, SPS is a police service that is being built specifically for Surrey where public safety priorities and solutions will be developed locally.

Surrey’s policing transition is not about simply changing the colour of the uniform – it is about bringing a new era of policing to Surrey. Across Canada, people have made it clear that they want to see policing done differently – with more compassion and trauma-informed practice, and less reliance on use of force.

At SPS we are finding new approaches to public safety. We have developed our policies with only Surrey in mind, added more de-escalation training for our officers, sought to engage those who have a historic distrust of police through our Community 1^st Unit, developed initiatives to support women in policing, and introduced “diverse nametags” to identify our multilingual officers to the public. And this is only the beginning.

SPS will also be under direct public oversight and accountability through the Police Act. Complaints about individual officer misconduct are handled by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC). This civilian oversight body determines admissibility of complaints, has oversight over misconduct investigations and the final say over the outcome of misconduct adjudications. Furthermore, the Police Act allows for public complaints about SPS policies and its policing model.

Municipal police agencies like SPS also provide residents with more consistent staffing levels, as we are not impacted by regular officer transfers that are common in the RCMP. In addition, the majority of municipal officers spend their entire careers with one police service. This translates to more stability for the police agency, a deeper understanding of the city, and longer-term relationships with the community and partners.

Learn more about how municipal police agencies are different.

Financial updates for SPS are posted regularly on the Surrey Police Board website and information on our 2024 budget is available here.

While municipal policing is usually slightly more expensive than the RCMP model, the benefits of municipal policing are significant, including more local control and more consistent staffing levels.

The unionization of the RCMP has increased costs for all RCMP-policed municipalities, closing the cost gap between RCMP and municipal policing. In addition, the federal 10% cost-share that comes with RCMP contract service comes with a cost to the municipality, as it allows the RCMP and governments to retain some control over detachment resources, including mandatory deployments to emergencies and major events in other jurisdictions.

Please continue to use the contact information provided to you by the officer – whether it was an RCMP or SPS officer. If, for whatever reason, you cannot get in touch with the officer, please call Surrey’s non-emergency number at 604-599-0502 and they will assist you.

Although SPS will assume overarching responsibility for policing in Surrey on Nov. 29, RCMP officers will continue to operate in Surrey for now, providing temporary transitional supports in Surrey. This means that residents will continue to be served by both SPS and RCMP officers until the transition is completed.

There will be no interruption to ongoing investigations before, during, or after this policing transition. Files will continue to be investigated by the appropriate SPS or RCMP team in Surrey. Should your file be assigned to a team that is being assumed by SPS, your file will be securely and confidentially transferred to SPS. Both SPS and the RCMP are completing Privacy Impact Assessments and taking steps to ensure that all file transfers are done with the utmost security and confidentiality.

Unless you hear otherwise, please continue to use the contact information provided to you by the officer assigned to your file – whether it was an RCMP or SPS officer. If, for whatever reason, you cannot get in touch with the officer, please call Surrey’s non-emergency number at 604-599-0502 and they will assist you.

If you have information on any open investigation in Surrey, please call the non-emergency number at 604-599-0502. This number will not change before, during, or after the transition to SPS. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can submit a tip through Crime Stoppers at www.solvecrime.ca.

There will be no interruption to ongoing investigations before, during, or after the transition to SPS.

Although SPS will assume overarching responsibility for policing in Surrey on Nov. 29, RCMP officers will continue to operate in Surrey for now, providing temporary transitional supports in Surrey. Residents will continue to be served by both SPS and RCMP officers until the transition is completed, which means that not all files will be transferred to SPS at this time.

Both SPS and the RCMP are completing Privacy Impact Assessments and taking steps to ensure that all file transfers are done with the utmost security and confidentiality.

For example, where a file is assigned to a team that is being assumed by SPS, that file will be securely transferred within the Police Records Information Management Environment (PRIME) system, which is used by all municipal and RCMP police agencies in BC. Your information will not leave the secure PRIME environment, it will simply be moved from the RCMP’s PRIME jurisdiction to the SPS PRIME jurisdiction. Appropriate procedures will also be put in place to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of any evidence/exhibits attached to that file that are also transferred. There is no change to the location of any physical evidence at this time.

Unless you hear otherwise, please continue to use the contact information provided to you by the officer assigned to your file – whether it was an RCMP or SPS officer. If, for whatever reason, you cannot get in touch with the officer, please call Surrey’s non-emergency number at 604-599-0502 and they will assist you.

As a municipal partner in the Lower Mainland Integrated Teams, SPS will use the services of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT), which is the same team used by the Surrey RCMP. All Surrey homicide files since 2003 will stay with IHIT. It is anticipated that unsolved Surrey homicides pre-dating IHIT will be transferred from the Surrey RCMP to SPS.

Yes, civilian employees play an integral role in supporting the work of law enforcement at SPS. SPS has a diverse array of civilian career opportunities suited to a wide range of skills, interests, and educational backgrounds. SPS has both unionized civilian positions covered under CUPE 402, and non-unionized civilian exempt positions. Learn more about the career opportunities for civilians at SPS.

Yes, SPS is actively hiring both new police officers and experienced officers. SPS is offering the opportunity to redefine policing with a brand-new police agency that is committed to officer wellness, community-based policing, modern training, and trauma-informed policing. Learn about our many exciting career opportunities.

Yes, SPS will have volunteer opportunities to support and promote public safety and crime prevention. Details on these opportunities will be shared in 2025.

SPS greatly values the contributions that volunteers make to public safety. Individuals who currently volunteer with the Surrey RCMP will be invited to join SPS volunteer programs in the months ahead.