Surrey police board votes to 'gag' chief; bans comments on local, B.C. government decisions

Perm Jawanda, new chair of the Surrey police board, defended a decision to ban public comments on government decisions by police officials. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

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The Surrey police board adopted new rules Wednesday that ban the new chief and other police executive from commenting publicly on city hall or provincial government decisions.

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The directive comes after Lipinski’s public comments on a number of police concerns, including the problems policing Cloverdale, cutting the gang unit, and tiffs between him and the mayor.

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Police officials are now not allowed to comment on government decisions, criticize the police board or its directors, or any municipal or provincial officials.

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In a letter sent to union members and obtained by Postmedia News, its president Ryan Buhrig stated the new directive raises serious concerns.

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“After reviewing both the directive and the report supporting it, the Surrey Police Union is concerned that what is being presented as a governance measure is effectively a gag order restricting the ability of police leaders and spokespersons to speak publicly on matters affecting policing and public safety,” Buhrig wrote.

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Had the directive been in place since the beginning of the SPS, Buhrig questioned how much Lipinski would have been able to say.

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The former chief spoke out against the province forcing SPS to fully police the Cloverdale neighbourhood earlier than it was prepared to, leading to the gang unit being cut.

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Lipinski also criticized the city for approving a police budget $47 million less than what the service was asking for.

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Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and Lipinski had been at odds since the beginning of the policing transition, which Locke opposed and campaigned on stopping. She took the province to court over the transition, but lost and the policing change away from the RCMP was forced on the city.

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Lipinski was terminated without cause on June 1 by the board. The board’s chair, Harley Chappell, however, was not at the meeting and said he was not been told about the motion before the meeting. In protest, Chappell resigned the next day, Two days after that, another board director also resigned.

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James Carwana, the second director to resign, could not be reached for comment but a source told Postmedia that he was the sole vote against terminating Lipinski.

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“I think this certainly affects recruiting,” Buhrig said of the recent board actions.

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Surrey police are still hiring officers to complete the transition, with the Guildford-Fleetwood area still policed by the RCMP.

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“I am very concerned about some of the decisions that this board has made, and what that could mean for independence of police chiefs,” Buhrig said. “I’ve never seen a directive this restrictive in terms of what police officials are allowed or not allowed to say.”