Transition?

SURREY, B.C. — The Vancouver-area city of Surrey, home to Canada’s largest RCMP detachment, has been given provincial approval to begin a transition to a municipal police department.

British Columbia Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth has given the approval for the work to get underway.

Farnworth says a team has been formed between the city and the province to ensure key issues of the transition are addressed, and it will be up to that team to determine if the switch can be done by 2021.

Former B.C. Court of Appeal justice Wally Oppal has been named chair.

Farnworth says Oppal will advise the province’s director of police services about issues relating to the switch.

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum successfully campaigned on a promise to replace the RCMP with an independent force and last month announced a separate municipal committee to manage the proposal.

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Update 6:25am, August 24th, 2019:

(1) Surrey’s move from RCMP to municipal local force unprecedented