Surrey police chief hails clarity and way forward on transition from RCMP – BC [Video]

Surrey’s police chief is hailing “clarity” and “a way forward” on the city’s contentious transition to a municipal force.

The comments come a day after the city rejected a $250 million offer from the province that would have indemnified taxpayers from extra costs of making the switch from the RCMP for 10 years.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Tuesday that the province will still direct $150 million directly to covering transition costs over the next five years. The deal would have also addressed concerns about the transfer of police assets and files, training and union membership.

“We have a plan, we always did have a plan, but now we’ve got even more clarity about that plan, about the way forward,” Surrey Police Service (SPS) Chief Constable Norm Lipinski told Global News, Wednesday.

“There were a lot of unforeseen circumstances that came up, but we worked through that. In spite of all the issues and all of the speedbumps we had to go …