SPS Scandal Is No Crime Stopper

Monday January 12, 2026

Last week, Global News revealed that they had filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) request at Surrey City Hall seeking email and text communication between Surrey Councillor Linda Annis and Surrey Police Service Chief Constable Norm Lipinski.  Once they had these records, they broke the story that Mrs. Annis had been questioning the Surrey Police Chief on the SPS running DUI checks of golfers leaving the Morgan Creek golf course.  In a notable communique, she asked Lipinski to contact the General Manager of Morgan Creek GC to discuss the situation.  If this is exactly as Global has reported from the transcripts they've received, it is an abuse of her office and power.

Now I have to be clear that I do not have this detailed information and Global News did not release it when I asked them to forward it to me.  This TNT is being written from the broad details that Global has broadcast.  I will be filing my own FOI with Surrey City Hall for the exact same information and plan to publish it here in full when I receive it.  The golf course is in the same upper class neighbourhood where Councillor Annis currently resides in a home valued at $2.5 million.

So let me tee this one up for you.  Drunk driving is a scourge that continues to plague our community.  How often do we hear about a car crash, often resulting in serious injury or death, where the police announce that "speed and alcohol are believed to be contributing factors"?  Golf courses are a haven for alcohol consumption where almost all of the big courses have licensed clubhouses and "cart girls" driving around the fairways serving a selection of beer and coolers.  Heck, golfers can even buy long coolers that hold a six-pack stack of cans that fits perfectly into a golf club bag.  These courses used to be given a mulligan for drinking by the RCMP but the SPS are now checking golfers as they leave to ensure they are sober and safe.

It's not like the Morgan Creek golf course is the only one of these  places being targeted with DUI enforcement.  I have friends who golf and they tell me that The Hills at Peace Portal, Meridian and the Surrey public golf course have all been visited by the SPS looking for drunk drivers.  In the past few years I have been pulled over by the Integrated Road safety Unit (IRSU) and RCMP for leaving both a brewery and a liquor store, just for legally buying beer while heading home from work.  A buddy of mine was stopped at 8 a.m. at the Berezan liquor store and asked for a breath sample after buying some Coors Light for his Dad who he was taking golfing.  It would not surprise me to see Softball City and ice arenas across Surrey being added to the list of SPS DUI hunting grounds as well.

One of the issues with local police forces is that civic politicians feel they are in a power and control situation over how the cops operate.  In the case of Linda Annis, this is particularly egregious for three reasons.  First, she is a Surrey Councillor who should not be questioning police operations, attempting to influence or stop police sobriety checks, or instructing the Chief to contact the golf course general manager.  Secondly, Mrs. Annis announced back in Sept. 2025 that she would be the mayoralty candidate for Surrey First in the Oct. 2026 civic elections.  Surely she must have known how bad the optics would be if this information came out and that her emails and texts are recorded as public record.  Lastly, her position as Executive Director of CrimeStoppers in B.C. should have precluded her from contacting SPS Chief Lipinski about this issue.  The last time I checked, drunk driving is still a crime and one that kills an average of 60 people a year in B.C., while injuring 1,400.  Dare I say, these should be very sobering statistics.

Councillor Annis has shown terrible judgment in becoming embroiled in this ethics scandal.  I'm not sure it meets the stepping down from Council threshold but her morals and thought processes must now be questioned.  As far as running for Mayor of Surrey, the Surrey First party brass might want to review this decision since this behaviour will likely be used against her by rivals, painting her as a "Do you know who I am?" type of politician.  Being the Executive Director of Crimestoppers, Mrs. Annis should resign from this position immediately or be terminated by their Board.  Drunk driving is still a crime and if Linda was attempting to interfere or stop the SPS from keeping our roads safe then she is no longer fit to be their spokesperson.  If there is any confusion here, the parallel would be the head of MADD alerting drivers about the location of police roadblocks.  The hypocrisy here should be plain for everyone to see.

There is one more avenue of questions about this scandal that needs to be investigated and answered.  Did SPS Chief Constable Norm Lipinski acquiesce to Councillor Annis's demands and talk directly to the Morgan Creek golf course GM?  Even worse, did he then direct his officers to stop DUI checks in the Morgan Heights neighbourhood?  The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner needs to be contacted to clear the air on this situation and discover how many drunk golfers were taken off the road around the Morgan Creek golf course and if this enforcement ended after complaints of SPS actions by Councillor Annis.  The Surrey Police Board Chaired by Semiahmoo FN Chief Harley Chappell will then need to examine all the facts and decide what to do about Surrey's top cop who Global News alleges had the DUI suppression team pulled out of Morgan Heights.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live work an play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo People