Public not being given key information on policing: Starchuk

photo from City of Surrey at surrey.ca

The public has to start asking some hard questions about this city’s move to a municipal police force, according to a former Surrey city councillor. Mike Starchuk, a long-time firefighter and a one-term city councillor, said Surrey residents are only getting a tiny portion of the necessary information in the move to a municipal police force. 
Key among the information not known to the public is how much this is going to cost and whether we will have better policing as a result.

The public is being invited to “consultation” meetings, which he says are anything but consulting. The public is shown a mock-up police car and some story boards of information on what a new police force would look like.

“What we don’t see is how it’s going to function,” Starchuk told PulseFM in an interview Tuesday. “What we don’t see is what it’s going to cost. What we don’t see is how it’s going to be an improvement.”

He says that’s what the public wants and needs. “The public doesn’t want a dog and pony show,” he said. “It’s an exercise in convincing.”
He believes the public will be surprised by the charges that shows up on their property tax bill when it comes time to pay for it. He is urging the public to show up to the meetings scheduled for their neighbourhoods and have their say.

“I want those people to say `this is how I feel about our public money being spent,’” Starchuk said. “If you don’t say anything at that time, there’s no recourse that you have.”

Full Interview with Mike Starchuk

City scheduled public meetings on Surrey police