another surrey police board director resigns after chief norm lipinski's ousting
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james carwana. credit: surrey police board website
surrey police board
the dismissal of surrey police chief norm lipinski sparked the resignation of a second police board member and calls for an independent investigation into the board’s conduct.
james carwana, who has served on the board since its inception, resigned thursday morning, hours before a tense meeting between remaining board members and the surrey police union ended when union officials walked out.
carwana’s exit came two days after board chair harley chappell resigned in the aftermath of the board’s surprise decision friday, made at a special meeting that chappell couldn’t attend.
mike starchuk, former ndp mla and current surrey mayoral candidate, said thursday that there should be an investigation into the board’s decision to fire lipinski so soon after his contract was renewed last october.
he said the public needs to know how new board members appointed in march, who had only attended one regular board meeting and two budgetary meetings, would have the experience and knowledge to make such a critical decision.
“i’m like everybody else, i am flabbergasted, i am gobsmacked on how i could be at my second board meeting that’s not dealing with a budget, and i’m dealing with a personnel issue, and then somebody’s there to convince me that the best thing for the entire city … is to fire the chief? it makes no sense whatsoever,” starchuk said.
he said a review could possibly be done by the office of the police complaint commissioner, which has powers to investigate municipal police forces.
“there needs to be an inquiry like nothing else that we’ve ever seen inside of the city,” starchuk said. “this needs to involve subpoenas of the mayor and her staff. this needs to involve the subpoenas of the deputies. this needs to involve subpoenas of the previous sps board and the current sps board.”
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none of the board members who arrived at surrey police headquarters for the meeting with the union spoke to the media.
larry thomas and hanne madsen, the two who presented motions at the special friday meeting where lipinski was ousted, were first to arrive. george duncan and archie johnston arrived 40 minutes late and jaswinder (jesse) sidhu arrived about an hour late.
sources told postmedia news that the union was looking for clarity around the whirlwind week, steps on how to move forward and how to continue recruitment as the police service is still filling positions.
however, sources said the meeting ended abruptly when union members walked out due to board directors being “very condescending, dismissive and rude.” union officials left at about 2:30 p.m., but board members stayed until 3:45 p.m. the union was set to have its own special meeting thursday afternoon.
it’s unclear why carwana quit, but sources said he was the sole vote against terminating lipinski.
since chappell’s resignation as chair, rob stutt has assumed the role, having previously been vice-chair, madsen confirmed to postmedia.
stutt is the city council representative on the board. he is also part of mayor brenda locke’s slate, surrey connect, and a former surrey mountie.
carwana was appointed to the board by the b.c. government in 2020. he practised labour, employment and administrative law in vancouver for over 25 years, according to the board’s website.
independent mla elenore sturko, a former surrey rcmp officer, said the stability in policing needed to deal with extortions and gang violence has been rocked by the board’s controversial firing of lipinski.
“we need strong leadership in public safety while our officers on the front-line are dealing with these intense challenges,” she said.
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and because the b.c. government appointed the new board members who forced the chief out, “the buck stops with david eby and the ndp,” she said.
sturko said the second resignation of a board member “is a clear indication that the minister of public safety and solicitor general needs to examine what’s happened here.”
four days after the news of lipinski’s ouster broke, key questions haven’t been answered, she added.
“why was he fired? what is it going to cost? we were promised more accountability,” she said of the decision to move to a municipal force with an independent police board. “now we have this situation unfolding where we don’t have the accountability for the process, and we don’t have the information that i believe residents deserve.”
wayne rideout, a retired rcmp assistant commissioner and former b.c. assistant deputy minister and director of police services, said thursday that neither lipinski nor the sps can be blamed for the extortion crisis and continuing gang violence.
“three or four years ago when the rcmp were the lead agency in surrey, there were people firing machine-guns in driveways,” he said. “surrey is a large growing community. it has for many years, regrettably, suffered from gangs and violence and criminal activity.”
the best way to deal with the issues would be to get the sps up to capacity, he said.
“i believe that stability within the police force and continuity of expertise will eventually help that situation,” rideout said. “when the surrey police establish itself, built itself up to capacity and has the stability of that workforce, they’re going to be able to do a much better job of getting a handle on some of these problems.”
the controversy over lipinski’s departure, on top of the long delays with the police transition, could impact the ability to recruit new officers, rideout said.
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“every time these things happen, it creates an enhanced challenge for recruitment to the surrey police service, because it continually looks like it’s not stable, and i think that’s unfair. they’re creating that environment.”
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