In 2019, the western provinces had over 47,000 cars stolen, with the majority of thefts occurring in BC and Alberta.

British Columbia: 13,352

Alberta: 23,535

Saskatchewan: 5,284

Manitoba: 5,546

While Manitoba and Saskatchewan seem much lower in comparison to the other provinces, their low populations put them in second and third place for thefts per 10,000 people.

Door-to-door scams can feel like something of the past, especially now that so much business is being done electronically. In recent years, many scammers have transitioned to the faceless route of scamming people over phone, via email or through other online channels.

As a property manager, you need to be especially vigilant when it comes to multi-tenant buildings. This is because people are often free to enter and roam the building without concern.

A physical security audit is a comprehensive assessment of your organization’s building(s). It measures your businesses susceptibility to crime against a list of industry best practices, regulations and requirements.

Between 2014 and 2018, nearly 29 million doses of prescription drugs were lost or stolen according to a study in the Journal of Drug Issues. Of this, 7.7 million doses were opioids. Of these missing doses, almost 40% were unexplained losses from community pharmacies. 

Even if you have had a security audit in the past, the changing technological and criminal environment makes regular security audits a necessity. If you haven’t had one in the last 2 years, you’re probably overdue.

City owned buildings that are open to the public have a high risk of certain types of crime including vandalism. Protecting government buildings is a priority for a number of reasons, and this includes protecting the public, information and staff, as well as ensuring continuity of government services. 

A false alarm can be stressful for a business owner, wasting their time, money and resources. False alarms cause businesses needless worry, wastes their time while they figure out what happened and is just generally frustrating.

Fire safety should be a top priority for any business. From a financial perspective, a fire can be costly. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, fire and explosions result in more than $2.3 billion in damage every year.

Shoplifting is a major issue in Western Canada. Even with the decrease in shoplifting in 2020, there were 90,904 police reported incidents of shoplifting under $5,000. Of those, 20,791 were in Alberta and 20,005 were in British Columbia. Manitoba and Saskatchewan had significantly less but still in the thousands at 7,447 and 3,103, respectively.

Finding out that your employees are stealing from you can be a hard pill to swallow. But the reality is that employee theft (or internal theft) affects businesses of all sizes and can greatly reduce your bottom line.

That’s why it’s crucial that you take steps to bolster your business security solutions and mitigate the opportunity for employee theft.

Parking lots aren’t the first thing to come to mind when you think about securing your property. But with employees, vendors and customers coming and going every day, it is important to make it safe.

Summer is around the corner, and if you are responsible for security at an educational institution, you want to be sure that your school is properly secured during the two-month long summer break.

If you have a business that’s closed in the evenings, you may have considered motion sensor lights to help boost your security. The question is, do these lights really work?

Relocating a business can be a formidable task. You have to transport expensive equipment, confidential information and expensive supplies/inventory. And you have to do all of it while keeping your assets safe and secure.

In February, a man robbed an Alberta bank armed with bear spray. The thief came into the bank, jumped over the counter and ran off with an undisclosed amount of money. Luckily, the spray was not discharged. 

While surveillance caught the crime on camera, the man was masked and there have been no updates on the suspect since the robbery. So, how can you improve the security of your financial institution and ensure criminals are caught red-handed?

In 2019, there were 18 catalytic converter thefts in Saskatchewan reported to RCMP and 14 thefts reported to municipal police. In 2021, that number was up to 140 reports to RCMP, which included multiple incidents where more than one part was taken. During the same time, municipal police received more than 300 additional reports of catalytic converter thefts.

Warehouse security is a priority for plant managers and managers of distribution facilities. You want to protect your products, all while optimizing storage space and building a culture of trust among your employees. 

Earlier this year, a car dealership in British Columbia had seven cars and the keys to approximately 300 vehicles stolen from the lot. The theft happened early one Sunday morning and while security cameras caught the theft on video, the culprits wore masks and hoods, so police are still looking for information. 

Shoplifting, property damage, smash and grabs and other crimes are on the rise in Edmonton. It has gotten so bad that downtown business owners are locking doors to control who comes in and reducing opening hours. 

Now more than ever, retail stores in Edmonton need to ensure they have a robust security solution in place.