The most recent crime stats available for Surrey comparing 2024 to 2023 indicate violent crime dropped by three per cent and property crimes by one per cent.
Chief Constable Norm Lipinski of the Surrey Police Service presented a report on this to a Surrey Police Board meeting on Feb. 12.
"Very clear, from a violent crime rate, we're slowly, slowly tracking down and that's a good news story for the citizens of Surrey," he told the board. "Equally important is property crime. We've always been below the B.C. average."
The SPS took over from the Surrey RCMP as the city's police of jurisdiction on Nov. 29, 2024. The transition is not expected to be completed until 2026/27.
Lipinski's report indicates the "most significant" decreases were files involving identity theft/fraud (down by 29 per cent), arson (down by 22 per cent) and theft from vehicles (minus 20 per cent) while theft over $5,000 saw the biggest increase, by 21 per cent, and shoplifting increases by 20 per cent.
Whalley, Guildford and Newton recorded fewer violent crimes but Cloverdale and South Surrey recorded slight increases.
The stats come with the caveat that not all crime is reported to police and incidents that are might result in more than one offences being counted. "Through investigation police determine or substantiate which offences, if any, took place," Lipinski noted.
In 2024 Surrey recorded 33,494 Criminal Code offences, including 5,831 violent crimes and 19,426 property crimes. Conversely, the city in 2023 recorded 36,854 Criminal Code Offences, including 6,002 violent crimes and 9,664 property crimes.
Coun. Rob Stutt, Surrey council's appointed member on the board, asked Lipinski how the SPS is managing call volumes. "Are you experiencing any problems in this regard?"
"We are handling it well," Lipinski replied.
He said the police standard in Canada is to get to the scene of highest-priority calls within eight minutes. "We are capable of doing that very easily, the RCMP have done it before, they do it now, we do it now, so I'm comfortable with that."
Second-priority calls – where there is some urgency but nobody's life is threatened – see police arrive at the scene in "typically about 12 minutes, sometimes 15.
"There is no Canada-wide standard on that," Lipinski noted.
