Anti-Police
Power Surrey calls on people to come out to challenge the Surrey Board to Trade’s
framing of policing options in Surrey as either RCMP or a municipal force. Meet
at 7: 00 AM at Civic Plaza, outside the Civic Hotel, 13475 Central Avenue,
Surrey.
We do not
need more or different police in Surrey. We need more community resources,
supports, and services. And not
police.
On January
29, 2019, the SBT is holding a “Dialogue” event on “RCMP or Municipal Force.” The
event description says:
“Participate
in the Surrey Hot Topic Dialogue to learn more about:
What would
have better outcomes regarding public safety
The costs
and benefits of a municipal police force
The costs
and benefits of keeping the RCMP
Business
impacts on such a change”
This is
framed entirely within a policing, and business, framework rather than a
framework of community supports, funding, and services. We know that in Surrey funds
for police mean cuts and/or underfunding of needed community resources and
services, as the recent cuts to community centers, art spaces, and an
Indigenous gathering place in the new budget show.
The
pro-police bias is evident in the list of panelists. They include an Assistant
Commissioner of the RCMP and two Chief Constables (Vancouver and West Vancouver
forces) long with a police friendly instructor from KPU. From the SBT event
page:
Panelists
for the January 29 RCMP dialogue are:
Fraser
MacRae, former Assistant Commissioner of the Surrey RCMP
Kash Heed,
former MLA and Chief Constable of West Vancouver P.D.
Bob Rolls,
former Deputy Chief Constable of Vancouver Police Department
Mike Larsen,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University Criminology Department Chair
Show up and
let them know that we need more community resources, not more cops and cop
funding.
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