A Surrey city councillor feels she didn’t do anything wrong when she alerted Surrey Police Service Chief Const. Norm Lipinski about concerns regarding impairment checks outside of Morgan Creek Golf Course — and other Surrey golf courses — last summer.
Coun. Linda Annis, who is running for mayor in the 2026 municipal election, said she had received a number of calls about the impairment checks — meant to catch drivers who have been drinking alcohol — at Morgan Creek Golf Course, located in the South Surrey neighbourhood where she also owns a home, as well as calls regarding such checks at Peace Portal, Hazelmere and Northview golf courses.
Annis said she called Lipinski at first, to ask whether the SPS was stepping up enforcement, and noted that she hoped they were, because “nobody should be drinking and driving at any time.”
Lipinski informed her that they had, Annis said, and then she started to get texts about it, so she sent Lipinski a few texts from Morgan Creek and one from another golf course.
A texted response from Lipinski to Annis said SPS had “… stopped setting up there,” in reference to the area outside Morgan Creek Golf Course, while another message from Lipinski to the SPS noted “this requires an elevated response.”
“I was merely passing along information. I wasn’t giving him any direction in terms of what he should or shouldn’t do,” Annis said Thursday (Jan. 8). “The only thing I suggested is he might want to talk to the general managers at the golf course, and I did that because because if they were over-serving (alcohol), they needed to know that the servers were doing that … I would welcome road checks anywhere in Surrey, whether it’s at golf courses or Whalley or wherever, it doesn’t matter.”
SPS sent an emailed statement but told Peace Arch News that, as there are now requests for the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner to look into this, “we are not in a position to comment further.”
The SPS statement said that after police conducted impaired driving enforcement outside Morgan Creek last summer, questions arose regarding how and why SPS chose this particular location.
“Conversations were had with both Morgan Creek Golf Course and Councillor Annis to explain the data-driven factors that SPS uses to determine enforcement locations including, but not limited to a) community complaints and tips, b) observed behaviour by officers, and c) proximity to alcohol-serving venues where police believe impaired driving may reasonably originate,” the statement said. “In the summer of 2025, SPS’s Impaired Driving Unit conducted impaired driving enforcement at numerous locations around the City of Surrey, taking into account the aforementioned factors.”
Lipinski’s texted response about SPS “…stopped setting up there” is in reference to the area immediately outside Morgan Creek Golf Course, SPS said in the statement, and that after internal analysis and discussion, it was determined that alternate locations nearby on 32 Avenue would be more appropriate, as well as implementing an additional prevention approach in partnership with Morgan Creek.
“The Chief’s further comment of ‘this requires an elevated response’ references his direction to senior SPS managers that the IDU should develop a more comprehensive response to impaired driving that goes beyond enforcement,” the statement read.
While impaired driving enforcement is critically important to saving lives, there is also an important role for prevention and education, it continued, including working with businesses that sell alcohol to ensure their staff are educated on how they can help prevent impaired driving, before enforcement is considered. The IDU’s new prevention and education program will be rolled out in 2026 and will see police working in partnership with businesses to stop impaired driving in Surrey.
“SPS’s priority is, and will always be, public safety. Impaired driving is a leading cause of death on British Columbia’s roads,” SPS said in the statement.
Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford, who is also the interim leader of the B.C. Conservative Party, said how police do their job is not the business of elected officials.
“I think, first and foremost — as elected officials — we have to be very, very aware of how we communicate, especially with those in law enforcement. At no time is it ever appropriate for us to have opinions on where something as important as roadside checks are set up,” Halford said Thursday (Jan. 8). “I have zero patience for anything that deters catching those that are impaired on a road … I trust law enforcement to do what they need to do without the input from elected officials on specific areas of where roadside checks should be done. It’s not not my business, nor is it the business of any other elected official.”
Annis maintained she is “in full support of roadside checks” and doesn’t think there’s any place for drinking and driving.
She said she would support an OPCC investigation.
“I’m totally in favor of that, because I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. I was given information and I just passed it on to to the chief. I didn’t direct him to do anything.”
Peace Arch News has reached out to Morgan Creek Golf Course as well as the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.