Surrey councillor breached conflict rules in police vote: ethics report

An ethics report has found that a Surrey, B.C., councillor who had family working for the RCMP breached ethics rules when he voted to halt the transition to an independent police force.

The investigation by Surrey's ethics commissioner says Rob Stutt broke the council's code of conduct on Nov. 14 when he voted at a meeting to decide the fate of the transition.

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

The report said that Stutt had two family members working for the RCMP at the time, one an officer and the other a civilian employee.

While the officer would have been eligible for a position in the Surrey Police Service, and was seeking an RCMP transfer at the time of the vote, the ethics commissioner found that was not enough to overcome the perception of potential bias.

Rick Stewart, president of the Surrey Police Union, says the councillor should apologize to city residents for "his disrespect to his office and compromised integrity at city hall."

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth have been in a fractious debate over the fate of policing in the city, with Locke accusing Farnworth of bullying and misogyny after Farnworth said the city had been playing "games."