by Guest on February 11th, 2021 at 6:47 PM 1 of 2 2 of 2
By Jeff Shantz
In their song
Won’t Get Fooled Again, rock band the Who called out the famous line, “Meet the new boss / same as the old boss.”
Residents of Surrey might be excused for feeling that this aptly describes the leadership of the city’s new municipal police force, which has been drawn from the ranks of the “old boss”, the RCMP.
On November 19, 2020, it was announced that the police board had tabbed Norm Lipinski to be the first chief of the city s new force. Lipinski was most recently the deputy chief of the Delta Police Department and before that spent years with the Edmonton Police Service before becoming assistant commissioner with the RCMP’s E Division (British Columbia).
The new Surrey Police Service has poached another RCMP commander to bolster its fledgling force.
Surrey police Chief Norm Lipinski has hired RCMP assistant commissioner Mike LeSage, who currently serves as chief officer of B.C.’s anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, as his second of three deputy chief constables.
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A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. and a resident of Garden River First Nation, LeSage has served with the RCMP since 1996 with his first five years spent in Williams Lake. He also had stints in the Northwest Territories, Ottawa and Saskatoon before being put in charge of “O” Division, the RCMP detachment responsible for federal policing in Ontario, in 2017.
Surrey Police Service adds another RCMP member to its top brass vancourier.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vancourier.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
VANCOUVER B.C.’s director of police services was among the subjects of a criminal investigation into obstruction of justice, with officers from the Ontario Provincial Police interviewing B.C. witnesses in the case in the days before she resigned, CTV News has learned. This week, OPP investigators travelled to this province to interview at least five witnesses in the probe, called Project Eastbourne. The project is examining the role of senior Mounties in B.C. and Alberta for their alleged role in the aftermath of the use of a stun gun against Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport in 2007.
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Rafal Gerszak/Rafal Gerszak
Surrey’s decision to reallocate tens of millions of dollars from its RCMP budget to facilitate the creation of a new municipal force has prompted B.C.’s Solicitor-General Ministry to say it will ensure policing levels in the city are not compromised.
City council narrowly approved a 2021 operating budget this week with one of the highest amounts ever committed to policing, at $184-million, up from $167-million in 2019.