Surrey, BC – Former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum is demanding an immediate independent police investigation into the dismissal of former Surrey Police Chief Norm Lipinski and the subsequent resignations of two members of the Surrey Police Board.
McCallum’s call follows public statements by former board chair Harley Chappell, who alleged that the board’s actions violated British Columbia’s Police Act and were influenced by political pressure. Chappell resigned after stating he was not informed that Lipinski’s future would be discussed at a special board meeting where the chief was removed.
A second board member, James Carwana, who reportedly voted against the chief’s dismissal, also resigned days later.
McCallum argues that the allegations go beyond a governance dispute and warrant a criminal investigation by a major police agency outside Surrey and independent of the RCMP. He contends the RCMP would face a perceived conflict of interest because current board chair Rob Stutt is a former Surrey RCMP officer and a member of Mayor Brenda Locke’s Surrey Connect team.
“The Chair of Surrey’s own police board has stated, in public, that the law was broken,” McCallum said. “If the law was broken, charges must be laid. No one in this city is above the Police Act.”
McCallum said investigators should examine whether board members, acting in concert with the mayor’s office, improperly orchestrated Lipinski’s removal, bypassed governance procedures, or violated provisions of the Police Act.
The former mayor, who established the Surrey Police Service during his term in office, said the controversy comes at a critical time as Surrey faces ongoing concerns over gang violence and extortion-related crime.
“Surrey families are living through an extortion crisis, and the people they count on to keep them safe have just been thrown into chaos by politics,” McCallum said. “Surrey needs the facts, and it needs them now.”
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