Establish Minimum Thresholds for Service Levels in Accordance with the RCMP Contract Accountability Provisions

Rationale

In 2012, the City of Surrey’s signed a 20-year contract for RCMP services at a cost of approximately $101 million per year, with a cost increase of 1.6 per cent to be implemented over the following 3 years.

The level of accountability was supposed to improve as a result of the following new provisions in the agreement:

• An enhanced 5-year major review process which can initiate amendments to the contract on a regular basis
• Operational effectiveness reviews that can be requested by the City of Surrey to confirm that services are providing value for money
• Any request by Surrey for an increase or decrease in the number of members in the local detachment is to be satisfied within one year of the request being submitted

Yet, the City of Surrey still struggles with being provided with such basic information as how many officers are on patrol on any given shift, or what percentage of the detachment force is on leave due to reasons such as injury or disciplinary action.

Proposal

Using the 5-year major review process and the more regular operational effectiveness reviews included in the RCMP contract, the City of Surrey will work with the RCMP to set minimum thresholds for service levels.

More specifically, the City will immediately undertake a joint-process with the RCMP to establish staffing minimums for the following RCMP detachment units and sections:

• Investigative Services
• Traffic
• Bike Unit
• Special Victims Unit
• Crime Reduction Units
• Drug Section
• Surrey Gang Enforcement Team
• Robbery Unit

These mutually agreed upon standards for each category will allow the City of Surrey the ability to ensure that regardless of the RCMP’s deployment strategies or techniques, there will always be a base level in which to assess value for the expenditure of over $100 million per year.