Surrey Police Service now has its own branded vehicles responding to calls

Surrey Police Service cruisers enter service on Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (SPS)

Starting Tuesday, people who call police in Surrey may not see the familiar RCMP branding on the vehicle that responds.

The Surrey Police Service – which is scheduled to take over as the police of jurisdiction in the city in late November – put its first 10 "fully marked and equipped" vehicles into service Tuesday.

An additional 20 are expected to be deployed in late July and in August, for a total of 30 SPS-branded cruisers on the road by the end of summer, the service said in a news release Tuesday.

"SPS officers will be driving these vehicles while responding to calls for service and providing proactive policing in Surrey," the release reads.

"As we continue to grow the SPS fleet, some SPS officers will continue to drive RCMP-branded vehicles at this time. This is part of the phased transition leading up to SPS becoming the police of jurisdiction on Nov. 29, 2024."

SPS spokesperson Ian MacDonald told CTV News the vehicles entering service this summer are brand new and have never been used by any other department.

That doesn't necessarily mean all future SPS cruisers will be brand new, however.

"We have started discussions concerning 'asset transfer' which could see some RCMP vehicles be rebranded to SPS," MacDonald said in an email.

"Of course, that will depend on their desire to move the vehicles elsewhere with their staff and the mileage and condition of the cars."

Uniformed SPS officers have been responding to calls in Surrey since December 2021, working alongside officers from the Surrey RCMP detachment, which has remained in charge of policing in the city.

"Getting Surrey Police Service vehicles on the road is an essential step forward in Surrey’s policing transition," said Chief Const. Norm Lipinski, in the release.

"As we prepare to take over policing on Nov. 29, it is important for residents to become familiar with the look of their new police service so they will be comfortable approaching SPS vehicles and officers whenever they need help or have questions."

The late-fall transition follows years of controversy around policing in Surrey, with Mayor Brenda Locke announcing less than a month ago that she would reluctantly give up her efforts to halt the switch to the SPS and keep the Surrey RCMP.