RCMP Let Off After Brutalizing Alex Fisher in Mistaken Identity Case

Alex Fisher (27) was badly injured when Surrey RCMP pulled him from his bike, slamming his face on the ground, on February 8, 2021, in a case of mistaken identity. On December 1, the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) announced that they would not be referring charges to Crown.

Fisher said he was riding his bike in the Guildford area, when an officer “pulled over beside him in his vehicle with his police lights on.” The officer then got out of his vehicle and “yelled something” at Fisher who slowed down “but continued biking away from the officer.”

The victim told the IIO that he was then “hit several times" before being placed in handcuffs, when another officer arrived during the arrest. Shortly afterwards the officers received a photo of the suspect and “discovered (the man) was not who police were looking for.”

Fisher reportedly said he was "not sure if his injuries occurred when the officer hit him, or whether he was struck by a pole when being removed from his bike.” He also added that could not remember all of the “details of the use of force clearly because he believed that he had blacked out for a second.”

The IIO seems to have used this against Fisher.  IIO director Ronald MacDonald reported that it is “quite possible” that the man’s face was injured in the “tumble” from his bike, as if the "tumble" was not the result of police violence. MacDonald added that there is “no evidence” the injury was a “result of the unlawful application of force during the arrest, but that is more an effect of the law allowing police to do whatever they want to do. Surely pulling someone from their bike as a result of mistaken identity would not be considered lawful in other contexts. It is straightforwardly assault.

MacDonald adds insult to injury, claiming that Fisher was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. That is a purely copaganda excuse. He was not in the wrong place at all.

According to MacDonald: “It is extremely unfortunate that (he) ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time, resulting in him being injured in this incident. However, the officers’ actions were reasonable considering the information that was known to them, and the danger that an armed suspect posed.” 

MacDonald even said the cop was was “left with no option.”

Fisher had every right to be on his bike there. That is not what resulted in his being injured. His injuries were the direct result of a police decision to inflict violence.

Most of the "evidence the IIO relied on came from police: statements from three witness police officers, CCTV footage, 911 recordings, police radio-to-radio transmissions, and medical records.

The RCMP officer who brutalized Fisher did not cooperate with the IIO.

TMX Starts Cutting Trees in Fraser Heights for Trans Mountain Pipeline

This week TMX started cutting multiple trees in the Fraser Heights area of Surrey (unceded Kwantlen, Katzie territory), to make way for its Trans Mountain oil pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby. The pipeline is being routed alongside the South Fraser Perimeter Road in Fraser Heights, before crossing under the Fraser River north to Coquitlam. The path is east of the Port Mann Bridge. The Surrey section of the pipeline will be 11.5 kilometers in length.

Former pipeline owner Kinder Morgan decided on the Fraser Heights route in 2013 to avoid neighborhoods in North Surrey, where the existing pipeline runs, over concerns of organized opposition. In a press statement at the time the company said:

“While the route choice allows Trans Mountain pipeline planners to dodge possible conflict with hundreds of homeowners who live near the current line, it’s likely to mean sharper focus on the environmental risk of a rupture that could send heavy crude oil into the river.”

The new route is closer to the Fraser River and increases the likelihood of harms to the river, and more substantial harms, in the event of a rupture.

Environmentalists have said that the TMX development will cut hundreds of trees from the forest and protected parkland in Fraser Heights. This includes a circle of seven old cedars and numerous other mature trees. The company started by cutting around 50 trees without notice on November 5. Direct action by Hummingbird Land Defenders stopped cutting that day.

Woman Hospitalized in Serious Condition While in Surrey RCMP Custody (Nov. 7, 2021)

A woman was taken to hospital in serious condition while in Surrey RCMP custody. The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) is investigating. They report that the woman was arrested on November 5 at 10:44 PM for an outstanding warrant and taken to the Surrey RCMP detachment, “after being cleared by medical personnel at the hospital for incarceration.” From there she “was processed, lodged in cells and subsequently remanded.”

On November 7, shortly before 1:30 AM, a guard allegedly noticed the woman had fallen from her bunk to the floor and was “unresponsive and not breathing.” She was then taken to hospital.

No other details have been provided by the IIO or Surrey RCMP.

Say No to a Surrey Police Foundation

Jeff Shantz

New Surrey Police Service Chief Constable Norm Lipinski’s announcement that a Surrey Police Foundation should be established and operated “full on” by early next year should be raising some eyebrows. Police associations in Canada have received relatively little attention, but as a developing controversy in Vancouver over a $1 million donation to the Vancouver Police Foundation for targeted policing projects shows there are reasons for residents to ask questions.

Police foundations in Canada receive donations from “corporate partners,” including LNG Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Enbridge, Cenovus, and numerous real estate companies. Critics suggest this raises prospects of conflicts of interest that could prioritize business needs over community needs.

In Vancouver, the police foundation has paid for a patrol boat, night-vision binoculars, a drone program, an armoured vehicle and a $500,000 SWAT mobile command truck. Do Surrey residents really want this militarized policing in our city? Do we really want private businesses driving it?

In Vancouver, critics have suggested that the donation, by property developer Peter Wall could amount to a “pay to play” arrangement, especially given that Wall wants to see the money go to policing drug use in the downtown eastside.

Many Surrey residents are already cynical about perceived developer influence on city councils, over years. Right now, the city is dealing with a controversy, and lawsuit, over just this issue. Does a corporate partnership foundation funding police really help this perception, especially with the concerns being raised about transparency and the police transition?

White Rock Gives More Money to Cops

Jeff Shantz

It is unfortunate to see that White Rock council has found even more money for police in a year with declining crime rates and as communities across Canada have been calling for a rethinking of police funding and the need to provide more financial supports for community resources in health care, youth programs, and anti-racism work.

Council has now approved $110,000 for the police server room and $25,000 for RCMP interior renovations. This while the city has to cover revenue shortfalls estimated at $1.8 million as outlined in the 2020 financial plan.

The city’s 2019 to 2023 financial plan showed that nine percent of city expenses already go to policing. That is more than recreation and culture, three times more than parks, and more than fire services.

While $135,000 may seem like a relatively small amount, we know how much that amount could do for community groups, for youth groups and programs, for harm reduction. Many of these groups do not even have access to office space, let alone a server room. So, while these groups have to run bake sales or online auctions or start a gofundme page to survive, the city can find hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the RCMP. That is not justice.

Surrey Police Add More RCMP Leadership in Bid to Replace…the RCMP

The new Surrey Police Service has announced that they have made three additional leadership hires as they build the force that will replace the RCMP in Surrey. All three are from…the RCMP. They are Lav Mangat, Allison Good, and Michael Procyk.

Superintendent Mangat currently serves as RCMP inspector and officer in charge of the Financial Integrity Program and with Federal Serious and Organized Crime. Mangat will work in the Support Services Bureau with Deputy Chief Constable Jennifer Hyland, also of the RCMP.

Superintendent Good is currently inspector and officer in charge of operations from the Ridge Meadows RCMP. Good will work in the Community Policing Bureau with Deputy Chief Mike LeSage, also of the RCMP.

Superintendent Procyk is currently an RCMP senior investigations officer and inspector with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU). Procyk will serve in the Investigative Services Bureau.

New Chief Constable Norm Lipinski, who also has an RCMP background, said about these hires: “The culmination of this team makes a dynamic and diverse leadership team who will set the tone, pace and culture of the organization.”

All of these Surrey police leaders come from the RCMP. That sure does sound “dynamic and diverse.”

Surrey RCMP Officer Arrested

On January 30, 2021, it was publicly confirmed that a Surrey RCMP officer has been arrested after an undisclosed criminal investigation. The investigation is reported to be "active and ongoing." The arrested officer has been released pending the approval of charges.

New reports claim that the officer had connections to a gang involved in recent conflicts that have killed several young men in the last few weeks. The officer was allegedly found in a vehicle with gang members. 

It has also been reported that the investigation into the officer has been going on for months. 

Surrey Crime Numbers Down Again, Despite Police Crime Panics

Police and politicians in Surrey have been very effective at driving crime panics and fear politics in the city. This has played a strong part in the push to create a new police force in the city at a staggering cost of hundreds of millions of dollars in transition costs alone.

Yet, once again recently released crime numbers for the city show large decreases in crime, including violent crime, in 2020—something which is true of the last decade plus.

In 2020, police-reported crime in Surrey dropped by 14 per cent. Violent crime was down 19 percent. There were nine fewer murders in Surrey in 2020, a 43 percent decrease from 2019. In 2020 there were 12 homicides in Surrey. In 2019, there were 21 and in 2018, there were 15.

Police have made a great deal of calls for shots fired, something picked up on by media, but, in fact, calls for shots fired declined by 24 percent, from 45 in 2019 to 34 in 2020.

The number of police-reported sexual offences was down six per cent, with the number of sexual assaults decreasing by 12 per cent, though many are, of course, never reported for fear or distrust of police.

Property crime was down 16 per cent from 2019 to 2020 (down 25 per cent in the fourth quarter). This was the case for all types of property crime, with break-and-enters down 17 per cent, auto theft down 14 percent, and theft from vehicles down 19 per cent.

With crime down overall, RCMP made new opportunities for themselves in the COVID-19 Compliance and Enforcement Team, with Surrey bylaw officers, which did thousands of compliance checks and managed to hand out 48 tickets. Only two per cent of their thousands of compliance checks in 2020 were found to be, in fact, non-compliant.

Despite this, crime panics and fear politics still rule in Surrey. And they are driving massive expenditures on policing, funds that could and should be used to sustain community-based resources for health and wellbeing.

Surrey RCMP Dog Attacks and Injures Man

A Surrey RCMP dog attacked a man inside a residence on King George Boulevard near 106th Avenue at around 3:30 AM on the morning of January 23, 2021. The dog unit and Emergency Response Team entered the residence and found a man allegedly hiding. During the arrest a police dog attacked and injured the man. The attack happened at around 8:40 AM. The man is being detained in police custody in Surrey.

COVID Outbreak at Surrey Homeless Shelter

Fraser Health declared a COVID-19 outbreak at the Surrey Emergency Response Centre (SERC) on January 23, 2021. The health authority reports that two staff members and 24 homeless people have tested positive for the coronavirus. 

They have also reported asking those who tested positive to self isolate. This is, of course, extremely difficult for unhoused people. Policing and criminalization have compounded the health threats of COVID. 

The SERC is supposed to provide shelter during the pandemic and claims to have 110 safe spaces. Shelters are too often not safe and are environments in which transmissions can easily occur.

Gang Panic Mountie is 2nd Deputy Chief of Surrey Police: Another New Boss from the Old

And another one. The Surrey Police Service (SPS) has once again brought in an RCMP boss to head up the supposedly new municipal force. This time its gang panic head, and RCMP assistant commissioner, Mike LeSage, who currently serves as chief officer of the province’s anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. LeSage is the second, of what will be three, deputy chief constable hired on the force.

Surrey police Chief Norm Lipinski served as assistant commissioner with the RCMP’s E Division (British Columbia). Earlier this year Jennifer Hyland, the officer-in-charge of the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment, was named the force’s first deputy chief.

Lesage took over the anti-gang task force last February. He will join SPS this February as the officer in charge of Surrey’s community policing bureau.

This is a glimpse into what community policing will look like going forward. Community policing is always a code name for targeted and intensified policing of neighborhoods and communities, particularly against racialized people. The police-driven panic over gangs in Surrey has already involved the demonization of youth in the city and layered policing practices that extend police surveillance and control throughout day-to-day life—in schools, youth groups, housing, and health care.

Getting rid of the RCMP was a good start for Surrey. Now they are coming back with a vengeance in a new force. Both need to be defunded and abolished and take their gang panic politics and community policing (that is repression) with them.

RCMP Supt. Jennifer Hyland is Surrey Police Deputy Chief: New Boss Same as Old Again

The new Surrey Police Service is shaping up to look an awful lot like the RCMP force they are supposedly replacing in Surrey. Earlier this year superintendent Jennifer Hyland, officer in charge of Ridge Meadows RCMP, was announced as the first of three deputy chief constables hired to the Surrey Police Service. Hyland’s first day in the position starts on January 25.

This hire comes after the naming of Norm Lipinski to be the first chief of the city's municipal force on November 19, 2020. Lipinski also has RCMP ties, having served as assistant commissioner with the RCMP’s E Division (British Columbia).

In an interview with the Surrey Now-Leader Hyland reports that she will be responsible for support services. In her words:

“Ultimately my bureau is responsible for all things recruiting, all things with respect to the workplace and culture, all things leadership and training, the strategic plan and Canadian engagement, and so basically everything that builds the foundation and the structure of the police force is going to fall under my bureau.”

This is truly troubling given all of the recent documentation of the longstanding toxic culture of bullying, harassment, and sexual violence within the RCMP. It is also deeply disturbing given the recent statements by RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki and Alberta RCMP deputy commissioner Curtis Zablocki claiming that there is no systemic racism in the RCMP.

Of further concern is the fact that superintendent Hyland was the officer in charge of the Ridge Meadows RCMP when their officers shot and killed Kyaw Din in his home on Colemore Street while he was in distress and needed help on August 11, 2019,

The Din family has called murder charges against the officer who shot Kyaw Din. They also called for superintendent Hyland to resign, and demanded police no longer respond to mental health calls.

Superintendent Hyland should still be called to account for the killing of Kyaw Din. She should not be welcomed to Surrey.

The Surrey Police Service is supposed to be grounded in the day-to-day realities of life in Surrey but Hyland lives in Maple Ridge, Lipinski lives in Yale Town, and police board members Elizabeth Model and Harley Chappell live in Burnaby and Chilliwack, respectively.

IIO Investigating RCMP-Involved Collision in Surrey

The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) is investigating a vehicle collision in Surrey involving an RCMP officer who was racing to a call. The IIO reports that on November 4, 2020, at approximately 11:00 PM, an officer in an unmarked police vehicle was involved in a collision with a white Volkswagen Jetta at the intersection of 128 Street and 93 Avenue. Emergency Health Services transported the occupant of the Jetta to a local area hospital with injuries.

Surrey MLA Garry Begg Denies Racism in Canadian Policing

A new government committee has gotten underway to reform the Police Act in British Columbia. It has gotten off to a suspect start. At the committee meeting of January 5, 2021, NDP MLA Garry Begg (Surrey-Guildford) said: "There is this 'Defund the police' thing going on in the States. There are some huge racial issues that I don't think we face here." To be clear, police in Canada have been developed to impose and uphold settler colonialism and racial capitalism.

Begg is, perhaps not surprisingly, a former RCMP officer with 40 years on the force. He has been District Commander, Watch Commander, and Operations Support Officer with the Surrey RCMP. Begg says he got into politics to “tackle crime.” The only surprise there is that a supposedly social democratic party would run a longtime commander in the colonial militia as a candidate. Begg was first elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2020.