SURREY – The outline of Surrey Parks bylaw officer, who created a big mess by harassing a small group of Indo-Canadian soccer players by calling the cops on them and forcefully evicting them from a field where they had every right to play, should be fired by the City or at least suspended without pay.
Last week, the soccer mess story heated up the social media site facebook and put politicians on a notice after an Indo-Canadian family said they were booted off the field at Brookside Elementary School because they didn’t have a permit.
They captured the whole ruckus on cell-phone video, which went viral with hundreds taking part in the debate about how a city bylaw officer over used her authority in kicking the players off the field with the help of the local RCMP, who should be fighting gangsters in the city who are on a shooting spree instead of law abiding and taxpaying citizens.
Satnam Singh Pawer told CTV news he and his cousin were having a small game with their kids when a bylaw officer asked them to stop playing and get off the field – then called in two Mounties for backup.
In a city plagued by gangs and gun violence, Pawer said he was stunned.
“They say spend time with the kids, make them a better citizen,” he said. “So how can you make them a better citizen if you can’t play in parks without a permit?”
A small argument ensued on the field, part of which was caught on camera.
Eventually, one sympathetic officer put her foot down and urged the family to take their concerns to the city, reported CTV news.
“Today, you will pick up your cones, you will go home, you will make a complaint to the City of Surrey,” she tells them in footage of the kerfuffle.
“It’s frustrating, I get it, but that’s the rule.”
Surrey does have a bylaw requiring permits for organized soccer games, but Pawer said their little match, which included his 10-year-old son Jorawar, was anything but.
Owen Croy, manager of parks for the city, said they’ve had reports recently of rowdy behaviour at Brookside Elementary, but that the family probably should have been left alone.
