Eby Forced Surrey’s Police Transition. Now the Top Cop Is Out and the Board Is Melting Down.

The province cannot force the transition forward, then act like the fallout is someone else’s problem.

Surrey’s police transition has entered a new phase of chaos. CityNews reported that Surrey Police Service Chief Constable Norm Lipinski was abruptly removed, that board chair Harley Chappell resigned in response, and that a second Surrey Police Board member, James Carwana, later stepped down.

Chappell told 1130 NewsRadio he was not at the May 29 meeting where the board decided to ask Lipinski to resign or face involuntary termination. He said he was “blindsided” by the decision and, in a statement reported by CityNews, blamed what he called “political tentacles and pressures.” That is Chappell’s allegation; it is not an independent finding.

By June 6, the questions had only widened. CityNews reported Lipinski said he was dismissed “without cause,” while former attorney general Wally Oppal said the move came as a shock. Independent MLA Elenore Sturko told CityNews the situation warranted a closer look at whether proper Police Act procedures were followed. Again: that is a call for review, not proof of wrongdoing.

The provincial government’s answer should alarm anyone who remembers how this transition got here. Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger said municipal police boards are responsible for staffing, policies and priorities, and that the province has no role or authority in those matters. Premier David Eby also told CityNews that local police boards govern police forces and that the province has been too involved in Surrey policing for too long.

That would be easier to accept if the province had not repeatedly put itself at the centre of Surrey policing. In March, the Surrey Police Board said it had reviewed the provincial directive for SPS to assume responsibility for Cloverdale on April 1, while SPS was still building capacity and dedicating resources to an extortion crisis. The board listed risks around service capacity, workforce readiness, interoperability and contingency planning.

So the issue is not whether Victoria personally fired Lipinski. There is no public evidence proving that. The issue is whether Eby’s government can push a politically loaded transition forward, direct expansion into another district, then retreat behind local-governance language when the board fractures and the public asks basic questions.

Former solicitor general Kash Heed told CityNews the public is not seeing transparency and warned the turmoil could affect morale and service delivery. The police union said confidence in the board is low. Those are not partisan talking points; they are governance warnings.

Surrey residents deserve safe policing, clear accountability and straight answers. If the NDP wants credit for imposing direction when it suits Victoria, it cannot vanish when the consequences land in Surrey.