The City of Surrey is calling on the federal and provincial governments to dispatch 150 more police officers here to help tackle the extortion crisis as shootings continue related to criminals targeting local South Asian businesses and residents.
Mayor Brenda Locke had a press release issued Friday concerning the city’s request for a temporary deployment of cops from the RCMP and Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.
“We are living it every single day – the fear, the intimidation, the violence,” Locke is quoted in the press release. “Families and business owners have had their lives and livelihoods deeply affected. It is gut-wrenching to see our community impacted so profoundly. Our city cannot, and will not, endure it any longer.”
Mayor Locke met with Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Nina Krieger on October 30 to discuss this.
“The provincial government is responsible for adequate and effective policing in B.C.,” Locke said. “The scope and scale of this challenge require leaders in the federal and provincial governments to take action and help end the violence that no Canadian city should have to endure.”
The previous day Locke sent letters to Krieger and federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree “to make the wave of shootings and extortions in Surrey a top law enforcement priority.”
The mayor also urged Justice and Immigration ministries to improve organized crime provisions in the Criminal Code “so law enforcement can better respond to nimble and sophisticated criminal networks.
“We need the provincial and federal governments to work with us as full partners to restore safety to our community and end this cycle of violence before another resident is injured or someone is killed,” Locke said. “We will not stop pushing until the extortion and shootings have stopped and every person in Surrey can feel safe again.”
On September 15 the City of Surrey set up a $250,000 reward fund for information leading to convictions as extortion-related crimes continue to surge in the South Asian community.
Mayor Brenda Locke said the fund, which can be split up, is one of the largest in Canadian history.
A Surrey Extortion Tip Line went live at noon Sept. 15, at 236-485-5149.
“I’m actually pretty angry that I have to be here today but it needs to be done as these extortions continue to disrupt peace,” Locke said at the time. “I know residents and business owners are deeply worried and rightfully so, by the extortions that continue to threaten our neighbourhoods, our businesses and our way of life. Many in our community right now are living in fear.”
Locke said Surrey also upgraded more than 600 traffic intersection cameras to higher-resolution systems “to enhance overall public safety.”
Surrey Police Service’s Chief Constable Norm Lipinski explained that the reward fund is intended to motivate people to provide police with evidence leading to arrests, prosecutions and convictions.
Meantime, the Surrey Police Board heard at its September 11 board meeting that B.C. has the strictest threshold for Crown Counsel charge approval in Canada coupled with police not being to lay charges themselves.