“Over $15,000 worth of construction equipment has been recovered and a Hope man has been arrested after RCMP received a call from a resident about a ‘prowler’ at a local construction site. Earlier this month, Hope RCMP said they received a call from a resident about copper wire allegedly stolen from a construction site in the 300-block of Fort Street. The same resident called police again on April 10 to report someone at the site.” Apr. 29, 2020, The Chilliwack Progress

It’s great that in the Chilliwack case the RCMP was able to recover stolen property based on a resident tip-off, but that isn’t always the outcome...

A few weeks ago, the Vancouver Sun reported that crime patterns in B.C. were changing since the Covid-10 crisis.

“Surrey RCMP Cpl. Elenore Sturko said Tuesday that home break-ins were down from 114 in the same period last year to just 74 in 2020. But business and commercial break-ins were up, with 48 additional files during the same period, she said.

With so many people working from home and business premises temporarily closed, it’s no wonder that the Mounties have had to increase daily patrols around restaurants, retail, and offices.

After almost 2 months of lock-down, we are finally talking about how to re-open businesses. This includes restaurants, golf-courses, retail and non-essential business offices. At this point, policies are being drawn up to ensure public and employee safety, and many businesses are trying to figure out how to bring workers back and get operational.

A few days ago, Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer set ‘mid-May’ as the target date for restaurants, cafes and pubs to reopen. There will be strict rules for social distancing, hygiene/ cleanliness, and physical barriers. Restaurateurs who have been closed since March are waiting to hear more so they can work out ways to comply and get their business back in operation.

Every year, MacLean’s magazine releases a list of Canada’s Most Dangerous Places and this year, 20 out of the top 20 locations for all criminal activity are in Western Canada, with crime rates rising year over year in 18 of these townships and cities.

This year, Alberta RCMP are suggesting that property owners consider Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). This includes installing fences and locked gates around the property to make it obvious when someone is trying to trespass, installing timed/motion sensor lights to keep your property bright at night and while you are away, and planning your landscaping to deter criminals. For example, keeping trees and shrubs pruned so that they do not make windows easy entry points, and even installing thorny plants that make sneaking around uncomfortable, if not impossible, for criminals.

With more and more businesses being mandated to shut down in response to COVID-19 and the measures being put in place by the government for the safety of Canadians, the susceptibility of companies across Canada to crimes including theft, vandalism, arson and more is increasing.

With the current isolation and social distancing measures, as a result of COVID-19, more and more people are required to stay home and only go out as necessary. In fact, school closures have taken place across Western Canada for the foreseeable future.

Is your restaurant either closed or operating on limited take-out/delivery hours during the COVID-19 pandemic? If you answered yes, then it’s crucial that you implement proper security measures that protect your business while it’s left unattended.

Your church is a safe place that’s run and visited by well-intentioned and good-hearted people within your local community. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean your place of worship is safe from the damaging effect of crime.

Current events regarding COVID-19 have led to an increase in business closures and more teams working remotely. That means a business security solution is more important than ever before. 

If you are the owner or manager of an automotive dealership based in Western Canada, it’s highly likely that you have heard about the ongoing story involving Vancouver’s Dueck Downtown dealership and David Bolton.

A proper security solution is essential for any business across Western Canada, but perhaps none more so than liquor stores based in Alberta. That’s because over the past year there has been a huge spike in alcohol theft across the province.

The AGLC - the Government of Alberta’s Crown commercial enterprise and agency that oversees the liquor industry in the province - has released a statement warning liquor licensees of an increase in “brazen” liquor thefts in Alberta.

3.5 minutes – that is the average time it takes for police to respond to a verified alarm made by Sonitrol.

In the security industry, this is unprecedented. Response times for conventional CCTV alarms take upwards of 45 minutes in some instances, and in most jurisdictions police will not respond to unverified alarms. That is why we are regularly asked what it is that makes Sonitrol so special? Why is it that authorities respond so much faster to our alarms?

Earlier this year, $50,000 worth of assets including a 14’ trailer were stolen from a construction site in Pincher Creek, Alberta. This is just an incredibly small portion of the $46 million worth of equipment stolen from construction sites annually in Canada.

With only 25 percent of equipment being recovered from construction site crimes, it is clear that it is time for the construction industry to adapt.

Criminals are constantly adapting. Thieves are always coming up with new ways to commit crimes and finding new items to steal to make money. Organizations in Western Canada, which do not have a proper security solution in place, are particularly vulnerable to copper theft.

Metal thieves are opportunistic, and even though copper is currently at a five-month slump in price, criminals can still make significant amounts of money from stolen copper - whether it be copper pipes, copper wire or any other components made out of copper.

One of the most common questions we receive here at Sonitrol Western Canada is, “I’m looking for an electronic security system for my business, should I go with a CCTV system?”

The simple answer is no.

Closed parking lots contain expensive vehicles and valuable contents. This leaves car owners and their passengers particularly vulnerable to becoming the victims of theft, violence and other criminal activities such as vandalism.

In fact, closed parking garages are frequently becoming the favoured “hunting grounds” for thieves and vandals. That’s why business owners who manage their own closed parking lots have a big responsibility when it comes to the safety and security of their customers and employees.

Sure, CCTV cameras work in certain situations – when you want to supervise staff to ensure they are working, observing that worker laws are being followed, or even when verifying that products were shipped or received.

But outside of basic operational management needs and recording, CCTVs are a long way from being the best security solution.

450 – that is the number of false alarms in Squamish, British Columbia in 2018 alone. In fact, 94 to 98 percent of all alarm activations are false and, with each of these false alarms, resources are wasted and avoidable pressure is put on the responding authorities whose time could have been better spent on real crimes and community outreach.

Had the alarm been verified before the necessary teams were dispatched, this wasted time and money would have been saved.

That's why an increasing number of jurisdictions are moving towards false alarm penalties as a means of incentivizing business owners to upgrade their security systems.