The importance of a verified security solution to protect your organization from copper theft has been brought to attention again after two men have been charged with copper wire theft in Calgary. It is believed they caused $300,000 in damage to the city’s oilfield well sites.

In the same week, an Alberta police officer claimed the province could see fewer copper wire thefts if some changes were made to the province’s regulations. 

Cpl. Curtis Peters criminal intelligence coordinator for southern Alberta RCMP, said there is plenty of evidence that two issues - meth use and copper theft - are intrinsically connected.

He said that copper theft is a "relatively steady" source of income and more people turn to it when the price of copper is high. With copper price growing steadily for the past few decades, copper crime is becoming a huge problem in Western Canada. Right now, top quality copper sits around $3 a pound in Canada.

Copper crime and the act of ripping cables out of buildings and their grounds costs a huge sum of money for businesses - often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Peters believes it will help if scrap metal dealers collected the identities of those who sell scrap copper. While many dealerships do track purchasing information by requiring sellers to present ID, they are not forced to by law. As a result, copper crime is only increasing in Western Canada.

This is why having a proper security solution is absolutely essential for any business that has copper on site.

How can your business stop copper theft?

Whether you have copper at your construction site, on your compound or warehouse or simply in your vacant building, you’re vulnerable to copper theft.

That’s why SonaVision should be an essential part of your organization’s security solution. SonaVision uses verified video and audio detection technology and is monitored 24/7 by Sonitrol’s central monitoring station.

To cut out the high false alarm rate associated with conventional CCTV systems, each Sonavision alarm is verified by a security specialist and reported to the local police as a crime in progress.

SonaVision’s advanced heat and motion detection system means the alarm can be verified and police can be dispatched within seconds of capturing the criminals. The average police response time to Sonitrol alarms is just 3.5 minutes, compared to the 25 minutes of conventional alarms.

Due to this verification, Sonitrol has helped apprehend 175,000 criminals and become a trusted security company in the eyes of the police.

What else can be done?

While verified alarms are the best way to protect your business from copper theft, there are also some other measures your business can take to add further protection. Sonitrol Western Canada has listed some of these methods here:

• Keep your landscaping minimal to limit hiding places for criminals on your property.
• Secure all access points to your building, doors, windows, roof access.
• Secure all metals and equipment in a locked compound or a well lit exterior area with at least a 6 foot wire fence (local regulations vary) with locked gates.
• Pull together an inventory list of all your bulk metal and equipment, to provide to your insurer and local authorities in the event of a theft.
• Remove anything that could be climbed to access a roof, from materials, to trees to scaffolds.
• Don’t overstock to reduce potential theft.

Are you worried about the effects that copper theft could leave on your business? Contact the Sonitrol Western Canada team of experts today and find out how we can create a unique solution for your business that completely protects you from copper theft.