Criminals often strike when a target offers a high reward and low risk of being apprehended. As the vast majority of businesses are closed on Statutory Holidays, this makes them prime targets for an opportunistic thief, leading to losses and damage associated with forced entry. What can be done to prevent these opportunistic crimes, or catch them in the act leading to apprehension?
Opportunistic thefts at businesses rose over the holidays.
Over Statutory Holidays, businesses are often left vacant – providing the opportunity for thieves to strike without fear of reprisal. Occurrences of crime have been reported across the country over this past holiday season, with instances of break & entry, theft, and destruction of property topping the list.
On New Years Day, local Police in Winnipeg, Manitoba responded to a report of a commercial break & enter at 3:15 am. When they arrived on the scene, they had discovered the assailant was within the premises & was placed under arrest. Through their investigation, Police had learned that the suspect arrived at the commercial property in a vehicle that was previously reported stolen in early December, and used a power tool to force entry into a locked storage compartment that was also reported stolen earlier in the month. (1)
In Central Canada, Waterloo Regional Police announced that three separate businesses suffered losses from forced entry & theft on Monday January 2nd (observed statutory holiday); all located in the same area in the south end of Kitchener, Ontario. It was reported that the crimes occurred around 3am, and in each instance, the criminal(s) forced their way into the building, to steal merchandise – using a vehicle that had been stolen from one of the aforementioned locations to assist in their crime. (2)
In the Maritimes, Tracadie RCMP in New Brunswick are requesting assistance from the public after a business was broken into on January 1st, between 12 to 1am. The suspect broke a window to gain access to the business, stealing a variety of tools, car cleaning products, lottery tickets, and cash. Although this business had surveillance cameras on site that were able to capture a description of the assailant, the feeds were not live monitored, leaving the crime undiscovered until long after the criminal had escaped. (3)
A Proactive Approach to Security is critical to protect your Business.
For business & commercial property security, we aim to prevent crime before it happens: by alerting the would-be criminal that they’re being watched, recorded, and communicated with – in real time.
Live operators at our UL Certified Monitoring Center diligently monitor your business between 6PM to 6AM each weekday, and for 24 hours a day over weekends & statutory holidays – when businesses are often left vacant and vulnerable to opportunistic criminals. To deter nefarious acts, our Remote Video Monitoring Team utilizes our industry leading security devices, equipped with live communications speakers and high-visibility LED strobe lights.
For the vast majority of instances, Police are not required to attend site, as our security systems and services have an industry leading 98% crime deterrence rate. However, if criminal action begins to unfold, Police are immediately dispatched to the crime-in-progress. If officers are unable to apprehend the suspects at the scene, the high-resolution footage from our stationary cameras & Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) cameras can be used to identify the criminals, assisting in their capture & subsequent court proceedings.
Once the threat has been mitigated, our Monitoring Team will compile all of the collected information into a log report, which provides the specific details of the incident. This report is made available to you through an instant email/SMS message alert, and within our proprietary security information reporting platform, syncroReports – for future reference. This platform is your access point to security logs, live camera feeds, and also provides the ability to control the PTZ security cameras at your business property.
Over Statutory Holidays, and after-hours, businesses are often left vacant – providing a prime opportunity for thieves to strike without retribution. Deploying a proactive security strategy for your business is the most effective means to combatting this & other threats of crime… before they occur.
Resources:
- “Police bust thief in midst of Winnipeg business break-in on New Year’s Day”, Amy-Ellen Prentice, Global News, January 2nd, 2023
- “3 businesses in same stretch of Kitchener hit in Monday morning break-ins”, Kevin Nielsen, Global News, January 3rd, 2023
- “Police release suspect photos in break-in and theft at N.B. business”, Karla Renić, Global News, January 17th, 2023