1 a.m. to 6 a.m. Nobody on site. The lights are off in the empty unit next door.
That wall is drywall. A trailer on a show-home site has new locks on it, and somebody has brought a grinder. By the time the first person arrives in the morning, the tips and the till are gone, or the tools are, and the trailer door won't close properly anymore. For some businesses it doesn't stop at one night: theft that costs more in a month than the shop makes in a year.
"they gained access to the vacant business next door to ours and proceeded to bust a hole thru the drywall and entered thru the same."
Your cameras were running the whole time. They recorded it. Nobody was watching.
By morning, it's a report. Whoever did it is long gone, and the break-in is no longer in progress. What's left is the loss itself, the tools or the stock, then the damage, the repair, and an insurance claim that may not cover everything you lost.
The footage helps you see what happened. It doesn't undo it. Extra locks don't either:
"I had added extra locks since the last break in but doesn't matter when you can just take a GRINDER to the door"
The only time to change how that night ends is during the night itself, while someone is still on your property. That is what a watched camera is for.
We call it Remote Guarding: a trained operator watching your existing cameras live, for the hours you choose.
- Someone appears on camera.On average, our operators respond in under 30 seconds and are live on the video.
- We order intruders to leave.The operator warns them through the speaker on site, by voice, in real time. We call it live voice-down.
- We call the local police when it's needed.We follow standard protocols for when to call, and we change them for your property if you ask.
- You get an alert with the footage, at the time, not the next morning.
Live video monitoring doesn't replace your alarm or the company that monitors it. It adds a person who can see what set the alarm off and order intruders to leave.
See how Remote Guarding works, from detection to action.
Only if two things have happened first. In 2016, after finding that 96% of reported intrusion alarms were false, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) adopted Enhanced Call Verification. Under it, EPS will not dispatch to an intrusion alarm unless both of these exist:
| Condition | What it means for your alarm |
|---|---|
| 1. An exterior breach and interior motion, together | Your system reports a door or window breach or a glass break, and also motion inside. One without the other is not enough. |
| 2. An attempt to contact all keyholders and the premises | Someone has tried to reach every keyholder and the property itself to find out whether the alarm is real. |
EPS says it will still respond where a risk to public safety has been identified. It also asks owners to give their alarm company at least three keyholders. The contact attempt is one of the two conditions.
And there is a gate before both: a valid alarm permit (below).
To see what Calgary, Toronto and Winnipeg require before police attend, compare video surveillance across Canada.
Source: Edmonton Police Service, Enhanced Call Verification, accessed October 26, 2026.
What EPS Says About Live Video, and What Its Rule Asks For
EPS tells alarm owners they are "encouraged to obtain an alarm that employs live video surveillance as this is currently the most effective means in determining the legitimacy of an intrusion alarm."
That's EPS's advice, not one of its conditions. The two conditions above don't name a camera, and the City bylaw's list of what an alarm company should weigh before calling police doesn't name video either. A watched camera doesn't take the place of either condition.
What it changes is what happens on your property: someone sees who is there, warns off intruders and calls the local police.
Every household and business in the City of Edmonton with an operating alarm system needs a permit under Bylaw 10922.
- $30.00 to issue it; $10.00 to change the information on it.
- No expiry. The bylaw sets no term and no renewal. EPS has proposed an annual renewal; it is not in effect.
- $300.00 ticket for operating an alarm without a valid permit.
- No permit, no response. EPS says it will not respond to an alarm for which a valid permit does not exist, unless there is information that an emergency or criminal act is in progress or has occurred.
- Your alarm company gives your permit number when it calls EPS.
Source: City of Edmonton Bylaw 10922, ss.4-7 and Schedule A (archived copy, accessed October 26, 2026); EPS alarm permit and fees pages, accessed October 26, 2026.
If Your Site Is Outside the City of Edmonton
Bylaw 10922 covers alarm systems within the City of Edmonton. If your site is in one of the surrounding counties or towns, check your own municipality's rules and your local police service. Our service works the same way there.
You pay, as the permit holder, not your monitoring company. Bylaw 10922 makes the permit holder liable for every false alarm that brings police to the property:
| Property | Fee per attended false alarm |
|---|---|
| Residential | $75.00 |
| Commercial, up to 500 m² | $100.00 |
| Commercial, over 500 m² | $150.00 |
- The first one is free only if it happens within six months of the permit being issued (s.14(2)).
- Unpaid 60 days after the false alarm, the fee cancels the permit immediately (s.14(3)). EPS lists a $30.00 reinstatement fee.
- Intrusion alarms only. EPS notes it cannot enforce these fees for panic and hold-up alarms under the current bylaw.
Source: City of Edmonton Bylaw 10922, s.14 and Schedule A (archived copy, accessed October 26, 2026); EPS, Alarm Systems Bylaw #10922 Fees and Fines, accessed October 26, 2026.
Four False Alarms in 12 Months Suspend Your Permit
- Attended false alarms 1 to 3 in a 12-month period: a fee for each (the first free if it's inside the permit's first six months).
- The fourth: the permit is suspended immediately, for three months.
- After that: it stays suspended until the Chief of Police issues it again. That means a new application and a fee.
- A second suspension within 12 months: no new permit unless the Chief is satisfied the system has been repaired or changed to stop the false alarms.
Source: City of Edmonton Bylaw 10922, ss.5, 6 and 15 (archived copy, accessed October 26, 2026).
Bylaw 10922 puts the checking on the alarm company, not on you. Before it calls EPS, it must make all reasonable efforts to confirm the alarm isn't false, weighing a list of ten things that include your system's false-alarm history and what happened when it phoned the property. Failing to do that is a $500.00 offence. A device that dials 9-1-1 or an EPS number automatically is banned, with a $750.00 fine.
Five questions to ask your alarm company:
- Do you have at least three current keyholders for my property?
- Do you have my alarm permit number to give EPS?
- What do you do to check an alarm before you call police?
- Does my system report a door, window or glass break separately from motion inside?
- After you call, how do you get someone with authority to the property?
Your part is keeping your keyholder list current. This is the bylaw's text, not legal advice.
Source: City of Edmonton Bylaw 10922, ss.12-13 and Schedule B (archived copy, accessed October 26, 2026); EPS, Enhanced Call Verification.
Maybe it's a trailer that keeps you up at night, or a driveway alarm you've been sleeping beside. The usual next thought is a guard.
Job Bank puts the median wage for a security guard in the Edmonton Region at $20.00 an hour ($17.00 low, $28.50 high). Alberta's median is $21.00.
| Coverage | Hours a week | Wages alone at $20.00 |
|---|---|---|
| Every hour of the week | 168 | $3,360 |
Wages only, not what a guard company bills
- At $17.00 an hour (Job Bank low): $2,856 a week in wages
- At $20.00 an hour (Job Bank median): $3,360 a week in wages
- At $28.50 an hour (Job Bank high): $4,788 a week in wages
That is what a guard earns, not what a guard company bills: employer costs, the company's margin and cover for breaks and absences come on top.
Source: Government of Canada, Job Bank, wages for security guards (NOC 64410), updated November 19, 2025.
Edmonton Area Crime Severity Index in 2025: 95.6, Against 75.0 for Canada
Statistics Canada's police-reported figure for the Edmonton census metropolitan area. A metropolitan area typically covers more than one police service, so the figure describes it as a whole.
Source: Statistics Canada, The Daily, July 22, 2026, Table 4.
| Measure (2025) | Edmonton metro area | Canada |
|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index | 95.6 (down 7% from 2024) | 75.0 (down 5%) |
| Crime rate per 100,000 people | 7,463 (up 2%) | 5,585 (down 2%) |
The Edmonton metro area sits above the national level on both measures, and its crime rate rose while Canada's fell. These are figures for a whole metropolitan area, which typically covers more than one police service. They don't describe your street or your property.
Source: Statistics Canada, The Daily, July 22, 2026, Table 4.
Two voluntary EPS programs that are easy to mix up. Neither one is about alarms, and neither gives police a live view of your cameras.
| Camera Registry | Agent Status | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A list of where your external-facing cameras are | Lets EPS officers act as agents for your property |
| What EPS can do | After an incident nearby, an investigating officer emails you to ask for specific footage | Ban people from the property; in apartment and condo buildings, charge returning non-tenants under the Trespass to Premises Act |
| What it doesn't do | EPS has no access to your camera. In EPS's words: "It is not a surveillance system." | Nothing about cameras or footage |
| Your choice | Sharing footage is up to you; you can opt out at any time | You post the EPS Agent Status sticker near your front door |
| How to join | Through EPS's Camera Registry program | In person at an EPS station |
Source: Edmonton Police Service, Camera Registry Program and FAQ; Agent Status Program; accessed November 5, 2026.
- The same as in the US. It's the same service we run for our US customers.
- We install it ourselves. Everything is in-house, installation included.
- We call the local police. Our operators make the call, by the standard protocols you can have changed.
Every rule, fee and figure on this page comes from one of these public sources.
- Edmonton Police Service, Enhanced Call Verification, accessed October 26, 2026
- Edmonton Police Service, How to Obtain or Update an Alarm System Permit, accessed October 26, 2026
- Edmonton Police Service, Alarm Systems Bylaw #10922 Fees and Fines, accessed October 26, 2026
- City of Edmonton, Bylaw 10922, Alarm Systems Bylaw (consolidated June 12, 2001), accessed November 5, 2026; archived copy, accessed October 26, 2026
- Edmonton Police Service, Camera Registry Program and FAQ, accessed November 5, 2026
- Edmonton Police Service, Agent Status Program, accessed November 5, 2026
- Statistics Canada, The Daily, July 22, 2026, Table 4
- Government of Canada, Job Bank, wages for security guards (NOC 64410), updated November 19, 2025
We look at your property over satellite imagery and your existing cameras. No site visit.
You get a written security plan: what needs watching, during which hours, how intruders and break-in attempts would be handled, and who gets alerted. It's yours to keep, whether you hire us or not.
- Tell us where the property is and what needs watching.
- We assess it remotely.
- You get your written security plan.
"Before Blinkless, we only found out about incidents after the fact. Now, we’re alerted immediately, and issues are resolved before damage happens. We have peace of mind we never had before."