VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 27, 2023 /CNW/ - Following is a statement from Brian Sauvé, President, National Police Federation, in response to the Province's request for additional information to inform a delayed decision on Surrey policing.

"Our Members are looking forward to certainty on their future in Surrey, as are we and everyone involved. We look forward to the outcome of the review by the Province, led by the Acting Director of Police Services, who we trust brings a fresh and unbiased lens to this important decision.

Regardless of the metrics, we could not be more confident in our Surrey RCMP Members' ability to provide exceptional policing, community support, and crime reduction in their community. In fact, the Surrey RCMP has the best crime reduction rate of any major city in Canada over the past five years.

More broadly, the NPF has been working closely and effectively with the RCMP to enhance and streamline recruitment processes. The joint NPF and RCMP effort has reduced the average application time to under nine months and is currently attracting 800 to 900 new applicants to the RCMP every month, which we believe could result in a record-setting year.

We also recently signed an Agreement with the RCMP to ensure that Experienced Police Officers' previous service will be recognized in calculating their annual leave when they join the RCMP, making a move to the RCMP even more desirable for current serving police officers across Canada. This, too, has triggered a swell of applications and new, experienced Members joining here in B.C. and across Canada.

Separately, our own ItsToughBut recruitment campaign has generated over 1.3 million video views; 35,000 visits to our landing page, and over 4,500 visits to the RCMP recruitment page in the last three months of 2022 alone. Interest in joining the RCMP is evidently high.

We look forward to the Province's decision and to supporting our Members in their future careers and success.

The National Police Federation (NPF) was certified to represent ~20,000 RCMP Members serving across Canada and internationally in the summer of 2019. The NPF is the largest police labour relations organization in Canada; the second largest in North America and is the first independent national association to represent RCMP Members.

The NPF is focused on improving public safety in Canada by increasing resources, equipment, training, and other supports for our Members who have been under-funded for far too long. Better resourcing and supports for the RCMP will enhance community safety and livability in the communities we serve, large and small, across Canada.

For more information: https://npf-fpn.com/

NPF:  LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

SOURCE National Police Federation

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2023/27/c6478.html