The Surrey Police Board heard there have been 39 reported extortion attempts against South Asian businesses in 2025 up to the date of its Thursday, September 11 board meeting.
Director Nerrisa Allen noted there were also 27 reports of "shots fired" connected to these.
The board heard there has been "increased overt police presence where threats have occurred" and there's been "in-person engagement" with representatives of more than 700 South Asian businesses.
Deputy Chief Constable Michael Procyk noted the increase in extortion-related violence in Surrey "has been dramatic" and figures part of the increase in complaints is a result of the Surrey Police Service's public messaging campaign urging victims to report to police. "This is critical to assisting the police in responding and investigating and linking investigations together."
Similar crimes are being reported in Langley, Delta, Richmond, New Westminster "and certainly Abbotsford," Procyk told the board. "For that reason, we are working together closely with our partners. We also know that this is not just a B.C., this is an inter-provincial problem, Frankly agencies in Alberta and Ontario have seen this trend before we have experienced it.
"As we have seen in other jurisdictions, getting to the point of arrests and charges in extortion investigations are a massive challenge, especially in British Columbia," he said. "We are one of the provinces that requires that the police cannot unilaterally charge on investigations; it has to go through a very robust process through the Crown and the Crown effects charges. And this process, although it certainly has certain benefits, it does delay charge approval and we have experienced that in some cases."
Bringing forward a case that meets the bar set by B.C. Crown Counsel to ensure a strong likelihood of conviction is a challenge, Procyk said, "but rest assured our investigators are working seven days a week on these files, all hours of the day and in different capacities using different techniques.
"For SPS, it's all hands on deck."
Chief Constable Norm Lipinksi said the SPS's message to the community is "this will take some time, we are making advances, if you're subject to extortion report it. Number two is preserve the evidence, number three is do not pay and we will look towards putting together safety plans which we do for everybody and then we also in those specific occurrence where necessary, we go door-to-door in the neighbourhood as well and answer questions."
Director Rob Stutt, a Surrey city councillor, asked concerning Crown Counsel's high threshold for charges to be laid if there has been a report forwarded by police that hasn't been approved, Procyk replied at least one report has been forwarded to the Crown "and that's pending decisions. There's actually two, I would say that there's one relating to this series."
"I would suggest that this is the highest," Procyk said of B.C.'s threshold for charge approval. "In most provinces the police have the ability to lay their own charges."
The board's next meeting is set for Oct. 9.
