In the 2024 survey, 18% of Surreyites identify as victims of crime

A meeting of the Surrey Police Board on October 29 heard the results of a 2024 City of Surrey public opinion poll showing that 70 per cent of all Surrey residents have not had any contact with the police this year.

From the research by Leger Inc. survey of 808 participants in July found that 18 percent of Surrey residents reported being the victim of a crime, 61 percent reported the crime while 36 percent did not, and 39 percent of residents are afraid of being alone walking on the street. night in their community.

The study, designed by Eli Sopow (Ph.D, human and organizational systems) and Curt Griffiths (Ph.D, criminology), found that when assessing organized crime and gangs as a high or very high priority for police to address, the average in Surrey was 75 per cent (same for Newton), 69 per cent in Cloverdale, 77 per cent in Guildford, 76 per cent in Fleetwood, 81 per cent in South Surrey and 73 per cent in Whalley.

Sopow told the board that respondents indicated they had not filed a report “because they think the police are too busy.” Many crimes were relatively minor in nature, he noted.

“Surprisingly, this year, compared to 2021, for reasons that I don’t quite know yet and that weren’t highlighted in the survey, South Surrey has more concerns about safety and the presence of a larger police presence, and that’s generally the case, compared to Given the averages for Surrey in general, things are a little trickier than in 2021,” Sopow noted.

“South Surrey is messing around a bit more.”

On average, 66 per cent in Surrey say mental health calls are something the police should ‘keep an eye on’, but in the city center that rises to 91 per cent, with respondents thinking this will ‘have a big, big impact to have’. about crime in the coming year,” Sopow said.

“Well, that’s something – the visible homelessness, which isn’t going away. Average 57 per cent for Surrey, okay, maybe that can be managed in different ways with consultation with community services, but again, where is that higher? Hello again, Whalley / Downtown, right there 66 percent, the highest of all the different communities, they think this is where things are really going to bite us in the next year.”

Survey respondents said the top priorities for policing should be responding to violent crime, followed by “providing timely police services,” tackling organized crime and gangs, and then domestic violence, cybercrime and property crime.

Meanwhile, a snapshot of future police pressure in Surrey, the research says, was ranked in this order of priority: organized crime gangs, growing population, illegal drug sales, increased traffic, visible homelessness, mental health calls and internet scams.

And when it comes to police operations, survey results show that 66 percent of the public prefer a combination of foot patrols and vehicle patrols, 57 percent of respondents rate community consultation high/very high, 84 percent agree/strongly agree that Surrey Police officers should wear body cameras, 60 percent believe it is somewhat/very important for officers to be fluent in ‘other than English’, and 43 percent believe there should be an equal number of male and female officers.

Mike Serr, chairman of the board, said the SPS currently has “just under” 450 police officers, with the SPS set to become the authorized police force for Surrey on November 29.

Police Chief Norm Lipinski said he looks forward to introducing a 2025 strategic policing plan “district by district” to the public.

“We are recruiting personnel under a plan that is being developed and has yet to be revealed to the public, but we are working with the three levels of government and of course the RCMP on mobilizing the Surrey detachment and the RCMP demobilizing the Surrey detachment . There is more information. That will happen in the coming weeks,” Lipinski told the board.

“Suffice to say we are very much on track for November 29th, we will be POJ on November 29th, and a lot of hard work has been done and there is still a lot of detailed work that still needs to be done between now. and November 29.”

Lipinski said in early November that the SPS will launch a “public information campaign about what exactly is happening on November 29th, and there will be multiple media streams about that and the most important thing I want to convey to the public is that there will be a continuity of service, that is say that public safety is not at risk. Many different methodologies are used to ensure that this does not happen in any way.

Lipinski added that he is “very confident” that the work the SPS is doing with the RCMP and government agencies is “coherently building a plan that will ensure that this transition continues as we move through 2025 and 2026 and kind of 2027 .”

The next meeting of the board is scheduled for November 27.