Briefly: After almost 74 years, Surrey RCMP ceded command to the new municipal force on Nov. 29. The watch commander summarizes his last night in the position.
Bob Mackin
On Nov. 29 at midnight, Surrey Police Service (SPS) took over command from the Surrey RCMP.
It is an expensive and controversial work in progress.
On Nov. 29, theBreaker.news readers exclusively heard a clip from the first dispatch by SPS Chief Norm Lipinski.
A source has provided theBreaker.news with an end-of-shift executive summary by RCMP S. Sgt. Tyner Gillies, the last watch commander in the 73-and-a-half year history of the Surrey RCMP (and a published author).
We had a very manageable night, with 164 dispatched files for 47 roadable constable cars. We had no scenes to take over and no files of any particular exigence throughout the night.
Surrey Police Service Chief Norm Lipinski and members of his senior leadership team attended the [operational communications centre] just before midnight to make a [police of jurisdiction] announcement over the air as the bell tolled and the calendar turned to the 29th.
I spoke with my SPS counterpart, Inspector Aman Nasser, as he was in the detachment for the POJ announcement. He had no issues to discuss.
As this shift winds down, and the sun sets on the Surrey RCMP municipal detachment, I am filled with deep wells of emotion.
In the 21 years I’ve worked in Surrey detachment, I’ve seen some dynamic changes. We changed from a district system to a watch system. We built the annex and centralized frontline in the main detachment, and then took over west main. The detachment compliment went from 505 regular members to almost 800. The good days have been good, and the bad days sometimes got really bad. But, throughout my service, one emotion has overridden all the others.
Pride.
I am proud of my time here and the things I have accomplished, the lessons I have learned. I am proud of the members I have worked with and the friendships I have made. We have fought and bled together, we have stood fast in the face of violence and hate. We never relented or let anyone get the best of us. Our mettle has been measured, weighed and found to be plenty. I am proud of the senior leadership team, especially Asst. Comm. Edwards, who, at all times, operated with dignity and integrity, even in the face of maligning comments and half-truths designed to undermine us.
We survived COVID, the defund the police movement, and the peaks and valleys of the policing transition. We are Mounties. We are Red Serge Strong. We are the last of the Queen’s cowboys. No police agency on the planet does it better than us, and we will continue to serve, to strive, to fight and to win.
“There are things that go bump in the night. We are the ones who bump back.”
It has been one of my life’s greatest honours to serve here, and I am very proud to be the last watch commander to ever stand vigil over this detachment.
On behalf of myself, and Insp. Sub Wong, we love you.
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