This past July, a Downtown Eastside church in Vancouver, British Columbia burned down. The fire also took down the adjacent convenience store and came close to burning down a nearby hotel. 

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.

High risk ventures like cannabis facilities need a special security solution that deters criminals and protects against theft. In this Sonitrol ebook, you’ll learn about the security requirements for marijuana / cannabis facilities and how they are best protected with verified monitored Sonitrol alarms.

Here’s a sample of what’s inside..

It’s been a few years now since the legalization of cannabis following the enactment of the Cannabis Act or Bill C-45. British Columbia now produces about 40% of all Canadian cannabis, worth an estimated 6 billion, one of the largest cash crops in the province.

Along with the technology needed to grow those quantities at a commercial quality level, cannabis business owners are in need of robust reliable security systems to protect their valuable crop and equipment.

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.

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 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.

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?

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.

Unlike conventional alarm systems, a verified audio and video surveillance system includes full-time monitoring by a security professional. If an alarm is triggered, the security company can quickly tell if it is a false alarm or if there is someone getting too close to your building.

This results in a number of benefits that your company simply cannot get from conventional alarm systems.

Financial institutions provide a place for the public to store their hard-earned money. Clients and regulatory bodies expect that money to be protected and kept secure at all costs.

But, as a financial institution, you are also subject to many forms of breach, from cyberattacks targeting data, files and online funds, to theft of physical property, including cash, equipment and more.

No matter what type of business you own or manage in Western Canada, you’ll probably be fully aware that it faces a number of threats from theft, vandalism and even more devastating crimes.

That’s why it’s incredibly important that your organization moves away from the traditional CCTV alarms that are now no longer good enough to catch criminals, and implement a state-of-the-art verified security system.

Are you worried about your company’s security system? If you are still using traditional CCTV, then it’s time that your business makes the switch to a verified security solution to ensure the protection of your assets.

Like many companies, security is important to you, which is why you made sure your business had a security system installed. But time has passed, and the security landscape has changed – criminals have become more sophisticated and so has the technology that should be protecting your business from them.

Organizations often become complacent, and only realize that their security system is no longer enough after a security breach.

Owning and operating a business is no easy task, and business owners are constantly asking themselves a plethora of questions from how much profit they are making, how they can grow the company and what’s changed in the market.

But have you ever stopped to ask yourself this - is my business safe from criminals and do I have a robust security solution in place? 

From October 17, every Canadian adult will be able to purchase cannabis on the internet and in bricks-and-mortar retail locations across the country. However, the experience will be vastly different across Canada, with every province introducing its own regulations on who can sell marijuana in physical locations.

Across western Canada, most provinces will have licensed marijuana dispensaries that can sell cannabis. Here is a quick break down of how each territory in western Canada is planning on handling legal marijuana sales. 

Do you own a rural farm? Then you have probably invested thousands upon thousands of dollars in your facilities, equipment, crops and products. With rural crime rising across Western Canada, security solutions that actually work are becoming increasingly more important for rural farm owners. 

With conventional alarm systems, you are unable to verify what is causing your alarm to go off without first going to the property. As a result, you will not know what level of attention is needed to correct the issue.

Conventional alarms are simply nowhere near as good as a verified security solution. 

The need to implement a proven security solution has been brought to the forefront for Alberta’s business owners, after a newly released report found crime severity has increased in the Canadian province for the fourth year in a row.

The new data, released by Statistics Canada, shows Alberta’s crime severity reached a two-decade peak in 2003, then gradually declined for the next 10 years. Since 2013, however, crime in the province has been back on the rise.