With crime on the rise in both British Columbia and Alberta, you’re probably wondering how you can better secure and protect your Western Canada-based business? 

Whether you are opening a brand-new business, moving locations or simply looking to enhance your existing security alarms, protecting your business is vital. There’s no doubt about it, falling victim to a crime can be completely crippling for some businesses.

Implementing the right security system can significantly lower the risk of your business being impacted by crime. Yet so many organizations simply don’t know what to look for when choosing a commercial alarm and security company.

In this blog, we take a look at the top 10 myths about commercial security alarms, so you know exactly what to look out for when making your decision.

When it comes to making business decisions, price is always an important factor. But value and ROI is always far more important. Implementing a security system just because it’s the cheapest option on the market will likely put your business at increased risk from crime. 

Paying slightly more for a renowned brand and innovative features, such as alarm verification, might be a little more expensive than some solutions but they’ll also be far more effective at preventing criminals from breaching your premises.

This statement is true for the vast majority of conventional CCTV systems, such as motion. These systems are typically placed inside of your premises, and only detect a criminal once the motion of their body is detected within the building.

Your security can be more effective than this, by detecting criminals on the outside before they get into your building. By verifying a threat before they make it into your property, you can dispatch local police with the confidence that they’ll catch the criminal red-handed. 

Since conventional alarms have no verification steps, the rate of false alarms is high at around 98 percent. The result? Police dispatch times are significantly slower (around 40 minutes on average), and sometimes they won’t even come out to your business at all.

With verified security alarms, that completely changes. Since threats are verified as real, the average police response time to verified alarms is just 3.5 minutes. That’s because they know they can catch the criminal in the act.

This is one of the most common myths and simply isn’t true. Unfortunately, most security companies use outdated technology that’s been around for decades. The hard truth is that commercial CCTV security systems are no longer up to scratch. 

To truly catch criminals in the act, before they can do any real damage to your property and your business, you need a verified security solution that alerts security experts in a central monitoring station as the crime is happening. 

Some businesses believe that they just put up a home security system within their premises and that it will “do the job”. Unfortunately, commercial security is a completely different animal from home security.

Home security simply isn’t built for the demands of a commercial setting. Dust, vibration, poor lighting conditions and ambient noise all make home security systems ineffective and unreliable when it comes to securing your premises. 

Just because your physical assets are insured, doesn’t mean your business will go unaffected by crime. In fact, crime can have a serious impact on your business that results in closures, the loss of revenue and possibly even regulatory fines.

You can replace computers, but can you really replace all of the data on those computers? Your insurance might cover vandalism, but can your store survive having to close for a week after such an event happens? 

A commercial security system should be robust, high quality and comprehensive. But, most importantly, it should be designed for the specific requirements and layout of your business. Using security that was left behind by a previous owner is risky as it hasn’t been designed for your company’s unique needs.

Installing a new security system will come with a more costly initial investment, but you’ll also be guaranteeing that your business is protected and that you aren’t just inheriting the problems associated with the existing security system.

Since the false alarm rate is around 98%, it’s easy to assume that all security systems experience false alarms. These false alarms are often triggered by employees and are a waste of police time and resources.

Most security companies have to report all alarms, as they don’t have the ability to verify whether the threat is real or not. With a verified security alarm, however, only genuine threats are reported to the police.

A large number of businesses believe that having an alarm that goes off is the most effective way to deter criminals. This is completely wrong. In fact, criminals know that once they hear an alarm they have around 15 to 20 minutes before the police arrive. It’s simply an alarm clock of how long they have before they need to leave. 

A silent and verified alarm is much more effective. The criminal has no idea that they’ve been detected, giving police the chance to catch them before they make it off of your property.

Not if you have the right security system installed! In fact, just by installing a brand such as Sonitrol with a reputation for catching criminals, you can deter them from even targeting your business.

Are you interested in enhancing your company’s security with a modern and effective verified security solution? Contact Sonitrol Western Canada today.