Surrey, B.C., councillor breached code of conduct over police vote, ethics commissioner says

The ethics commissioner for British Columbia's second most populated city says a councillor who had ties to the RCMP contravened Surrey's code of conduct by participating in a council discussion and vote concerning the transition of police services.

In February, the Surrey Police Union (SPU) filed a complaint accusing Coun. Rob Stutt of breaking conflict-of-interest rules in discussions around policing at a council meeting last November.

It said Stutt failed to disclose his family connections to the RCMP when council voted on matters related to the city's transition away from having Mounties as the city's police force.

The move to the Surrey Police Service (SPS) was rejected in a 5-4 vote.

The new ruling from Surrey's Office of the Ethics Commissioner, a summary of which was made public this week, is the latest development in the ongoing, acrimonious process to confirm which force will police the city of more than 500,000 people.

Last week, council said it had chosen the RCMP over the SPS, despite the province advising the city should choose the municipal force.

Peter Johnson was appointed in March 2023 as the city's ethics commissioner after the position was not renewed in 2022 under then mayor Doug McCallum. The commissioner is a neutral, independent officer who oversees the conduct of elected officials in Surrey.

The commissioner took issue with the perceived conflict of interest involving Stutt in relation to section of 21 of the city's code of conduct. It states that a council member must disclose any conflict of interest in accordance to a section of the B.C.'s Community Charter and, if conflicted, refrain from participating in meetings related to the conflict.

Stutt's son was a serving member of the Surrey RCMP detachment at the time of the meeting and vote on Nov. 14. The commissioner said a decision to continue transitioning to the SPS would have resulted in the elimination of a number of RCMP positions.

Even though Stutt's son was pursuing a transfer from the Surrey RCMP detachment, it was not "sufficient to overcome the perception of a potential bias," said the summary.

The commissioner concluded that Stutt had contravened section 21 of the code of conduct by participating in the discussion and voting on the police transition questions.

"While councillor Stutt had acted in good faith, and had participated in the meeting with the intention of fulfilling a promise he made to voters during the 2022 city council election, the potential for bias arising from a personal interest in a matter is determined objectively, from the point of view of a reasonably well informed person," the report said.

Stutt, a former RCMP investigator, was elected to council as part of Mayor Brenda Locke's Surrey Connect slate last fall on a promise to transition the city back to the RCMP after the previous council began the move to an independent police service.

He named retaining the RCMP and ethics and integrity at city hall as two of his four key priorities.

The SPU also complained that Stutt's daughter had been seconded from the city to work for the RCMP.

But the ethics commissioner did not find a conflict in that case, saying she would have been offered an equivalent position with the SPS if the transition to that force went ahead.

The commissioner said the conflict of interest for Stutt has since been resolved since his son's transfer from the Surrey detachment.

However, Johnson warned Stutt to be more sensitive to possible future conflicts involving his daughter.

Johnson made no specific recommendations about any measures council should take in relation to the complaint.

Stutt says he 'never tried to hide' his background

In a statement sent Wednesday evening, Stutt says that he has "never tried to hide" his policing background or his son's role as an RCMP officer.

"I remain committed to the public safety of the citizens of Surrey. That was the sole reason for my vote ... a vote that was made within my moral and ethical boundaries," he said.

The councillor added that he supported the office of the ethics commissioner, and said it was notable that the commissioner did not recommend a significant penalty as a result of the code violation.

SPU president Rick Stewart said the councillor should apologize to Surrey residents for "his disrespect to his office and compromised integrity at city hall.''

Surrey First Coun. Linda Annis said the finding means Stutt should not have voted last November, which would have resulted in a tied vote and a failure of the motion.

"If the motion had failed, I think it would have changed things quite a bit," she said in a release. "Instead, it has continued the political chaos and cost that surrounds the policing issue."