Surrey Mounties’ average response time to priority-one calls for help last year was seven minutes and 38 seconds.
That’s according to the Surrey RCMP 2021 Report to the Community, recently released to the public.
In 2020, the average response time was seven minutes and one second.
The detachment received 195,857 calls for service in 2021, compared to 198,169 in 2020. Broken down, in 2021 the police received 1,304 online crime reports (1,221 in 2020), 135,477 calls to which police were dispatched (138,830 in 2020), 164 public complaints (151 in 2020), and in 2021 there were 46,536 abandoned emergency 911 calls (46,326 in 2020).
“In the myriad of files we attended in 2021, from the routine calls, to the dynamic major crime files or the tragic situations, what has stood out for me have been the countless acts of kindness and compassion displayed by our officers, employees, and by citizens of Surrey,” said Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, officer in charge of the Surrey RCMP. “Whether a small gesture or a life-saving action, these acts inspire me every day. Whether a small gesture or a life-saving action, these acts inspire me every day.”
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Last year marked the RCMP’s 70th year policing Surrey. It is in the process of being replaced by the Surrey Police Service, with the first group of SPS officers having been deployed last November, under Edwards’ command.
Canada’s largest RCMP detachment, the Surrey RCMP has 785 police officers plus 58 with integrated units, 302 municipal staff plus 100 auxiliary staff, and more than 100 volunteers assisting with various community programs.
The Surrey RCMP during the pandemic – so far – did 18,765 proactive compliance checks and issued 133 violation tickets under the Emergency Programs Act and 27 tickets under the Quarantine Act. In 2021 it seized 1,487 firearms (724 in 2020) and made 216 referrals to the BC Civil Forfeiture Office. Moreover, it handled 3,233 missing persons complaints, 569 child exploitation files, 7,633 mental health-related calls for service and Surrey Mounties did 144 Naloxone administrations to people overdosing on illegal drugs.
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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