Since the 1970s, one Surrey government after another has talked tough about crime in our city and claimed that a new “law and order” approach would turn things around. And yet, in the past two generations, Surrey has become less safe not more so. That is because our politicians are more interested in grandstanding for failed policies at election time than enacting policies with a proven track record of success. Proudly Surrey is an unapologetically left-wing party that believes in a “causes of crime” approach over a “crackdown on crime” approach to reducing crime and a “eyes on the street approach” over a “broken windows approach” to crime prevention.

That’s why our signature policy is making sure that every teenager in Surrey has a uniform and equipment they need to play as part of a team rather than hanging out as part of a gang. That’s why we will ensure that every teenager has an affordable, reliable bus they can take to a library that is open or to a friend’s parents’ home if things are not going great where they are. That’s why it matters to us to ensure that there is the post-secondary space in our city for low-income young adults can go to college full-time or in the evenings in our community. That’s why we’re planning to put more counselors and social workers in our schools and return social worker and psychologist staffing levels to what they were forty years ago. Do policies like this prevent every possible crime? No policy does. Do policies like this prevent more crimes per dollar than any other kind?

Yes, they do.

But preventing young people from getting involved in gangs or criminal activity is just part of our agenda. Everyone in this city deserves to feel safer on our public streets than we do today. And the way we can ensure safety is by making sure we are looking out for each other, so,

We will change local building codes

To ensure that the fronts of buildings on major streets face directly onto those streets

To reduce the space permitted between sidewalks and building
entrances for both commercial and residential property

To reduce building gaps and other spaces between commercial
establishments

We will initiate a program to prohibit and remove obscuring hedges obscuring residential developments from pedestrian thoroughfares

We will waive permitting and other fees associated with creating a “stoop” culture, encouraging front porches, decks and verandas that have sight lines to pedestrian thoroughfares

While we, as citizens, can do a lot more to keep an eye on our neighbours and those who move through our communities, not all of this work can be done by volunteers. That is why Proudly Surrey is committed to making the institutional changes to local policing that we have delayed for too long.

We will serve the RCMP with notice that Surrey will be ending its policing arrangement with the national force on a clear timeline

We will establish, either on our own, or in partnership with one or more adjacent  municipalities (The Township of Langley, Langley City and/or Delta) a 2Surrey-centred police force

We will assign a greater proportion of our officers to regular vehicular and pedestrian beats to restore community policing relationships and increase both street safety and feelings of security

We will establish training and recruitment procedures appropriate to our community with respect to diversity and other important objectives and ensure that any new municipal or regional police force have a more communicative and harmonious relationship with bylaw enforcement officers

Upon severing our relationship with TransLink, we will end our relationship with the transportation authority law enforcement department and place our public transportation system under the same law enforcement jurisdiction as the rest of our city

With the impending Legalization of Marijuana in Canada

We will establish a special municipal license of marijuana sales, the first eight of which will be issued to city-owned stores situated in each major neighbourhood, staffed by qualified, responsible employees

We will maintain low licensing costs for municipal stores and any additional private stores the city may license

Low licensing costs will be maintained so that a per-transaction or per-gram tax can be levied on each purchase as per the provisions of the license

This municipal tax will be transferred directly to the Surrey School Board to spend at its discretion

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(604) 543-4032