Surrey Police Service officially takes over from the RCMP [Video]

The years-long saga over who will police the city of Surrey has reached its final chapter.

As of midnight Friday, the Surrey Police Service has officially taken over.

“We’re proud to be able to serve the citizens of Surrey, and we took over from a great legacy of policing and public safety from the RCMP, who policed Surrey for 73 years,” said Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, media relations officer for the SPS Friday morning.

The process began in 2018, when former mayor Doug McCallum proposed the municipal force during the first council meeting of his second term in office.

Four years later, McCallum lost re-election to Brenda Locke, who had initially been elected as a councillor under his Safe Surrey Coalition.

Locke campaigned on reversing the transition which landed her in a very public and heated conflict with the then-public safety minister, Mike Farnworth. The mayor accused Farnworth of bullying …