Metal theft is a challenge for businesses. It’s a billion-dollar problem in North America. when you factor in lost revenue and damages. Scrapyards are a frequent target for these thieves because of their ample supply of copper and other non-ferrous metals like aluminum and brass, all of which can garner big money on the street. Even more so in Canada where there is little regulation, making it easier for thieves to trade stolen materials.
The Challenges at Nordic Iron & Metal
Nordic Iron & Metal, a scrap facility in Concord, opened for business in August 2019. The property consists of a warehouse and an outside receiving yard. For their first month, employees would spend one hour at the end of every day moving their supply of metals into the warehouse to keep them safe. This was not only time consuming, the metals were taking up valuable storage space.
Deterring Crimes in Progress
In September, one month after opening, the owner of Nordic Iron & Metal took the advice of his friend, Sidney Sommer, one of the founders of ECAM, and installed live-monitored surveillance cameras. Just three months later, shortly after midnight, a Stealth trained security operator, saw two men jumping over the fence and into the scrap yard. The operator contacted York Regional Police. Within minutes, officers arrived causing the suspects to flee. The force’s helicopter successfully located both men and arrested them.
Watch the action.
The Live Video Monitoring Solution
Unlike traditional security systems that typically wait for something to trigger an alarm, live video monitoring is proactive. Trained security operators monitor key areas of a property to help deter crimes before they happen by watching for suspicious activity in real time. They can activate speaker warnings at unwanted trespassers and contact police directly with live reports on the criminals. This often results in apprehensions while the suspects are still on the property.
As North America’s leading provider of live video monitoring solutions, Stealth proactively watches more than 25,000 cameras every night, resulting in more than 15,000 deterred crimes and 500+ annual arrests.
Since Stealth began securing the site at Nordic Iron & Metal, the business no longer spends time moving the metals inside. They now leave everything outside under the watchful eye of security operators. Not only does this save employees time, they can now take on more business because they have more usable space. The owner also likes the fact he can log into his cameras from his smart phone and view his property at any time.
For more information about our proactive live video monitoring solutions for scrap metal and recycling facilities, contact us.
