Former Surrey Police Chief Norm Lipinski attends a news conference at Surrey Police headquarters in B.C. in November, 2024.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Surrey’s police board has dismissed its first chief without explanation, the latest turmoil to rock a force that was imposed upon British Columbia’s second-largest city by the provincial government over the vehement opposition of the mayor.
The sacking of now-former police chief Norm Lipiniski on Monday prompted Surrey police board chair Harley Chappell to resign from his position in protest. He said the board’s decision to oust the police chief was voted on at a meeting he couldn’t attend on Friday.
In a letter sent to officers Tuesday, and obtained by The Globe and Mail, Mr. Lipinski thanked his colleagues for their help during his term as chief, which started with the nascent force in late 2020.
In the letter, Mr. Lipinski wrote that when he returned from a recent vacation on Monday, he was called into a meeting with the board and “informed that my employment was being terminated without cause.
“While this is not the way I hoped my time with the Surrey Police Service would come to an end, I leave with immense pride in what we have accomplished together under extraordinarily challenging circumstances.”
Those circumstances included a battle between Mayor Brenda Locke, who was elected in October, 2022, and the provincial government.
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Former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum pledged the creation of a new municipal force to replace the RCMP as part of his successful 2018 election campaign.
But he was heavily criticized for the way he handled the transition. As well, public opposition to the change was stoked by an advertising campaign funded by the RCMP union.
In the 2022 election, Ms. Locke argued a standalone municipal force would be far more expensive than the RCMP.
But the provincial government stepped in and ordered the change to go ahead. Ms. Locke’s government challenged the move in court, but lost in May, 2024.
Surrey reached an agreement with the provincial government in which B.C. agreed to spend $250-million to offset the extra cost of the municipal force. In return, Surrey guaranteed it wouldn’t levy a tax increase to fund the police transition in the next decade.
Mr. Lipinski became chief in late 2020 and was tasked with leading the force through the hiring of hundreds of officers as it continued to assert its jurisdiction over the city.
The transition to the new municipal force from the RCMP was due to be completed later this year or early next. The force now employs 685 police officers and 513 civilian staff.
Last October, Mr. Lipinski renewed his contract for another three years, with an option to extend it for two years after that.
Mr. Chappell, who is chief of the Semiahmoo First Nation and also known by his traditional name, Xwopokton, said he was never made aware of any disciplinary issues surrounding Mr. Lipinski.
He said, in a telephone interview, that Mr. Lipinski’s days appeared to have been numbered earlier this year when the B.C. government decided in January not to re-appoint four board members.
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Premier David Eby pledged at the time that the City of Surrey would have a larger say in the vetting of police board appointees, which led to five new appointees in March.
In Mr. Chappell’s resignation letter to the board on Tuesday, he said he could no longer support the organization.
“I feel the political tentacles and pressures have reached far too deeply into our newly formed SPS board, and I morally and ethically cannot be part of this moving forward.”
Ms. Locke issued a statement Tuesday thanking Mr. Lipinski for his five years of service and signalling her confidence in the board’s ability to keep the city safe while finding his replacement.
The board issued its own statement saying that Mr. Lipinski “has left” and that Deputy Chief Const. Todd Matsumoto has been appointed as acting leader of the force.
The statement was signed by head of the board’s committee to find a new chief, Hanne Madsen. She was appointed just over a month ago by the province after the March shakeup at the board that Mr. Eby said was needed to ensure Surrey’s police was “connected and fully supported by municipal and provincial governments in the broader community.”
The board’s Tuesday statement directed media questions to its executive director, who declined to comment when reached by phone.
On Monday, Sergeant Ryan Buhrig, the head of the Surrey police union, told members that they might understandably view the chief’s rumoured firing “as an attempt to hold one individual responsible for broader failures in governance, resourcing, planning, and political decision-making,” according to an internal memo.
“This perception will only be strengthened by the fact that these reports come shortly after the Province declined to renew the previous Police Board and after years of political interference, uncertainty, and instability surrounding policing in Surrey,” Sgt. Buhrig wrote.