Jodie Hergott may not have had a lot of stuff stolen from her property west of Humboldt but she has had strange vehicles slow down and look into her yard.
Hearing about all the problems with rural crime, this does make her nervous.
Hergott already has security cameras around her property but hearing about BeeSecure, a recent rural crime initiative that was unveiled by Minister Responsible for Innovation Saskatchewan Tina Beaudry-Mellor, this is another tool that she and other rural property owners can have to protect their property from theft.
With the BeeSecure technology, property owners can track any piece of equipment using GPS, report them as stolen, and share the data with law enforcement, says their website.
The technology has been tested for Saskatchewan climates.
“Our device has been tested in temperatures as low as -40°C with no grid power or wifi connection to make sure it works in the most remote areas with the harshest climates.”
Keys out of the vehicle and locked is not always a guarantee, says Hergott, so to have a way to track stolen equipment is a benefit to property owners.
“I don’t know if I’d want it back after someone steals it but to have another tool in fighting rural crime is awesome.”
BeeSecure was designed by Jeff Shirley of Rivercity Technology Services Ltd. in Saskatoon as part of the Innovation Saskatchewan‘s Rural Crime Innovation Challenge.
“We knew that someone in Saskatchewan would have the skills, talent and innovative vision to design a solution that would offer rural residents and farmers more security for their property,” said Beaudry-Mellor in a recent Government of Saskatchewan press release.
As a property owner, this is something Hergott will be looking into, she says.
