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Hundial said the message contained “a single threat. And it was direct. It came through messenger online and had a bunch of slurs attached to it.”
One of the names he was called was “pig … you know, referencing my previous career,” he said.
“And it was basically saying, put a bullet in me. And he also made reference to the Prime Minister — Trudeau — as well.”
While the person had a profile on social media, Hundial says he doesn’t know if it’s a real one or not. It’s not someone with whom he has had previous contact.
“It’s someone that does appear in their profile to have links to some sort of organized crime — in the U.S. and there’s an anti-social degree here, anti-religion, anti-police,” he said.
The person who sent the message did not refer to the controversial decision to replace the Surrey RCMP with a municipal force, but Hundial believes the rhetoric around the issue may have led to the threat.
“I’ve been fairly outspoken my position on the police transition. And certainly, this didn’t happen when I was a police officer,” he said.
“I don’t mind engaging in political discussion and discourse. But recently in Surrey, the level of the discourse on the political side has certainly escalated with all these fake posts and memes going around. … And I put that squarely on the shoulders of the mayor and his team, which seem to be the biggest instigators of this.”
Mayor Doug McCallum had no comment on the threat to Hundial, his media representative, OIiver Lum, said Tuesday.
Hundial said the hardest part was explaining to his 12-year-old why “there’s a police car parked outside her window.”
He said he hopes the person is held accountable that a “very strong clear message is sent that people can’t be bullied.”
“We do live in a civilized society and people need to act like it. You need to tone down the rhetoric.”
Twitter.com/kbolan
