Another Surrey Police Board director resigns after chief’s departure

A second member of the oversight body has tendered his resignation in the wake of the abrupt firing of Chief Norm Lipinski.

A second director with the Surrey, B.C., police board has resigned from the role just days after the ousting of the city’s police chief and the resignation of the board’s chair.

James Carwana informed the Surrey Police Board on Thursday that he had tendered his resignation with the province, according to the board’s executive director, Jason Kuzminski.

The reason for his departure was not immediately apparent, though it comes the same week that Norm Lipinski was suddenly replaced as police chief, triggering the exit of the board’s chair.

Now-former chair Harley Chappell cited politics for his departure, saying in a letter that the board made the decision to fire Lipinski at a special meeting that he did not attend.

“I do not support this motion and feel it to be in violation of our governance policies and provincial Police Act,” Chappell said in the letter provided to CTV News. “But unfortunately, what is done is done.”

Chappell, who is also the elected chief of the Semiahmoo First Nation, said he believed he had gone “above and beyond in leading an independent, non-politically influenced board” to govern the Surrey Police Service.

“Unfortunately, I feel the political tentacles and pressures have reached far too deeply into our newly formed SPS board, and I morally and ethically cannot be part of this moving forward,” the letter said.

The board said in a statement Tuesday that Lipinski had been replaced by Deputy Chief Const. Todd Matsumoto, who was appointed to the top post on an interim basis.

Lipinski oversaw Surrey’s transition from the RCMP to its own municipal police force, a process that was contentious as Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke tried unsuccessfully to reverse the move and hand policing back to the Mounties.

The city has been plagued by extortion-related violence targeting the South Asian community and a recent resurgence of gang-related shootings.

A Surrey police spokesperson referred questions about Carwana’s departure to the board, while the city did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

With files from The Canadian Press