Surrey Police Board votes to limit chief’s speech, prompting ‘gag order’ criticism

The Surrey Police Board voted Wednesday to impose restrictions on how the city’s police chief can speak publicly.

The Surrey Police Board elected a new chair Wednesday, and one of Perm Jawanda’s first acts in her new role was overseeing a vote which will restrict a police chief’s public comments to operational rather than governance issues.

It was a meeting where change was the theme, with Jawanda in her new role and interim Surrey Police Chief Const. Todd Matsumoto sitting in the seat that was occupied by Norm Lipinski before his high-profile firing earlier this month.

But the new chair, replacing a predecessor who resigned in protest over Lipinski’s firing, insists the board is in control of the situation.

“We have our priorities in place,” Jawanda told reporters on Wednesday. “And that’s our job—is providing public safety, working the through the transition, the final transition. We’re going to be working with our stakeholders in the provincial and municipal government and the RCMP.”

While many are connecting dots between the new speech restriction for Surrey’s police chief and Lipinski’s firing, Jawanda wouldn’t make that link explicitly.

The Surrey Police Union is condemning the new restrictions imposed on the chief. Many officers showed up at the meeting, a move the union said represented disgust with the handling of Lipinski’s dismissal and this new restriction.

“The public would expect that a police chief can speak honestly and openly about public safety issues that affect the community,” said Ryan Buhrig, union president.

A number of politicians running to unseat the current mayor in October’s election attended the meeting and say they oppose the new restriction brought in by the board.

“That’s absolutely shocking,” said Linda Annis, a Surrey city councillor, who is aiming to win the city’s top job. “The police chief should be speaking completely independent. He shouldn’t be influenced by anyone. He should be able to tell the story the way it is.”

Candidate Mike Starchuk suggested people in Surrey are tired of being a punchline over the ongoing chaos related to the policing transition.

“I think what we saw today was the ultimate of what a gag order is all about,” Starchuk said. “Is this what the people of Surrey want? Absolutely not. What we saw in there was nothing short of a gong show.”

Beyond the operational aspect of the transition, there’s also a concern over the costs and transparency more generally.

Candidate Troy Van Vliet said it’s not even clear at this point what Lipinski’s dismissal will cost taxpayers.

“It’s been a real challenging transition of course, especially with the flip flop (between transitioning to the SPS or keeping the RCMP), the cost of money that the current regime is costing—with this firing being the latest example of it,” said Van Vliet.

One political rival claimed the current mayor Locke is driving the board’s move to restrict what a police chief can say.

“This gag order was put up by Mayor (Brenda) Locke now,” insisted Doug McCallum, Surrey’s former mayor who is running to get his old job back this fall. “I don’t think I know of any police jurisdiction in the world that puts a gag order on their top police officers.

At City Hall following the meeting, Locke told CTV News she is a supporter of free speech and did not have any involvement in the board’s decision.

“I mean obviously I am not on the board,” Locke said. “If I wanted to drive that, I would be on the board. I am not on the board. I have no influence on the board.”

While the board has a new chair and the department has an interim chief, critics suggest the Surrey police transition is starting to feel like its in a permanent state of flux.