Crime isn’t just a big city problem. Farms can be vulnerable to thieves, particularly if they don’t have any security features to help ward off intruders.
Country Guard Security, based in Devon, Alta., specializes in protecting farms and acreages against property crimes and has clients across Alberta. The owner, Guy Spiro, who set up the business 15 years ago after serving in the military, says he has seen a dramatic increase in farm thefts since the beginning of the pandemic.
“When I first started, the reports were minimal,” he says. “You’d hear a story from an area once or twice a year. Now, since (the pandemic), it’s more like once a week.”
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According to Spiro, most farm thefts are petty crime, involving easy-to-steal things like fuel, tools, bicycles and quads. Thefts occur year-round both during the day and at night, although there is a slowdown in very cold weather, which is usually followed by an uptick in crime in warmer spring conditions.
Spiro sees two common patterns of rural crime. One is the opportunistic, unplanned, snatch-and-grab variety. The other is planned and typically follows one or more visits by thieves who scope out properties along a certain route.
Spiro has more than 300 different pieces of technology that can be used both for perimeter protection and in farm buildings to discourage thieves. Sirens, flashing lights, yard lights, video cameras, motion detectors, monitors, infrared sensors, silent alerts and remote reporting tools are all in the security expert’s tool bag.
Often, rural criminals make a list of properties to target and will hit several of them in one night. “If they’re scoping six properties, you want your place at the bottom of their list. Make it difficult for them. You want them thinking, ‘This place has just too many obstacles,’” Spiro says.
Spiro considers community action as the first line of defense against rural thieves. Because it takes time for police to respond to calls in rural areas, Spiro advises farmers to participate in an alert system with nearby neighbours, which can easily be set up on a social media network like Facebook. This way, by sharing surveillance footage or reporting a suspicious-looking vehicle, for example, farmers can rely on each other to help keep their rural neighbourhoods safe.
“Less crime happens when people have a higher awareness,” says Spiro. “Criminals won’t be aware of it, but as soon as they go into an area like that, they will sense it. They can see that people are out there, watching and alert, and they’ll go somewhere else.”
New crime watch app for Alberta
The Alberta Provincial Rural Crime Watch Association (APRCWA) has developed an app with the help of provincial RCMP that enables farmers to use their smartphones to report suspicious and criminal activities anywhere in rural Alberta. It was released for public use on the Apple and Google app stores last December.
The app uses GPS data to identify the nearest RCMP detachment and provides contact information and links so reports can be submitted either over the phone or online. There’s also an option to include photos of lost or stolen property if you wish.
According to APRCWA, the reports will build up a database to assist Alberta RCMP with analyzing crimes and possibly help lead investigators to chronic offenders.
The rural crime watch app has other features like RCMP boundary maps, safety tips and news bulletins from APRCWA. It also has a social services section with names and numbers for reporting urgent needs such as abuse, bullying, and suicide prevention and other mental health issues.
APRCWA president Cor De Wit encourages all rural Albertans to try the new app, which he says is part of a new direction for the grassroots organization that began in the 1980s.
“We try to appeal to young and beginning farmers, to acreage owners and small-town residents. We don’t stop crime in progress or go out to catch criminals. We are proactive. If something is suspicious or strange, we report it,” says De Wit.
