Live Security Camera Monitoring for Calgary Construction & Property
Calgary builders had a record year in 2025, and so did the people stealing from them. Secure Defence puts live eyes on construction sites, condos, rental apartments, malls and warehouses. On a Calgary site, AI sorts people and vehicles from blowing snow, animals and shadows. We stop it tonight, with a verified response in about one minute and zero false alarms.
Calgary builders had a record year in 2025, and so did the people stealing from them. CMHC counted 27,684 housing starts in the Calgary area, up 14% (CMHC), more than Toronto or Vancouver. Over the same year, the Calgary Police Service recorded 371 construction-site thefts, up from 308 in 2024 and well above the average of 277 over the seven years before (CBC).
Secure Defence puts live eyes on those sites, and on the condos, rental apartments, malls, strip malls and warehouses around them. We've been doing live video monitoring since 2015. Today we have 500+ customers and 1,000+ sites live monitored across Western Canada, and we were the highest-ranked security company on both The Globe and Mail's Top Growing Companies and BIV's Fastest-Growing Companies in B.C. lists in 2025 and 2026, which makes us the Fastest Growing Security Company in Canada. Our licensed operators work from the Richmond, BC command centre we own and run ourselves.
On a Calgary site, AI sorts people and vehicles from blowing snow, animals and shadows. A trained operator then watches the live video and steps in. They speak to the intruder, set off the siren and strobes, and call police when a crime is confirmed. Recorded footage shows you what was stolen yesterday. We stop it tonight, with a verified response in about one minute and zero false alarms.
Calgary construction by the numbers
The city's building pipeline is huge. Building permits in the Calgary region were worth $7.4 billion in 2025, and commercial permits jumped 40.6% to $1.5 billion (Alberta Regional Dashboard). Big public jobs keep adding open work zones, including the Green Line LRT in the southeast and the Scotia Place event centre, whose arena steel frame was finished in September 2026.
Police say the new communities are the hard part. CPS described them as places with "fewer witnesses and fewer routine patrols," and named the University District, where several builders work side by side (CityNews). The same pattern shows up in Seton, Mahogany, Cornerstone, Livingston and Belmont, where copper wire, tools and appliances sit in half-built homes with nobody around after dark.
We watch the fence line, the laydown area, the containers and every house that's closed in but not yet occupied. Calgary contractors can dig deeper with Calgary construction site security and our construction page.
Strata and condo buildings
Condo corporations in the Beltline, East Village and the inner suburbs deal with parkade break-ins, storage locker theft and people sleeping in stairwells. Our operators watch the parkade gate, the ramps, the lobby and the garbage room live, warn people off, and save a clip of every incident for the board and your insurer. Calgary boards and managers often start with strata property management security in Calgary, residential strata security, commercial strata security, strata live video monitoring and our strata and property management page.
Rental apartments
Calgary's purpose-built rental vacancy rose to 5.0% in 2025, with the biggest increases in North Hill, the Southeast, the Northeast and Fish Creek, where large new buildings are taking longer to lease (CMHC Rental Market Report). Empty suites and quiet floors invite trespassers. Dwelling break-ins in the city rose 5.8% to 1,296 in 2025 (Calgary Police Service 2025 Annual Report). We help rental managers keep new buildings secure while they fill up.
Malls and strip malls
Calgary's crime severity is lower than most big Canadian cities. Its Crime Severity Index was 61.7 in 2025, against 75.0 for Canada (Statistics Canada).
Business owners still saw 2,870 commercial break-ins that year (Calgary Police Service 2025 Annual Report), and the property crime rate climbed to 3,328 per 100,000 people from 3,009 (CPS 2025 Annual Crime Statistics Report).
For regional malls and neighbourhood strip malls, we cover storefronts, parking lots, loading areas and rear doors once the stores close. Calgary retailers should look at shopping centre and retail security and our retail security page.
Warehouses, yards and dealerships
Foothills Industrial, Great Plains, Balzac and the Northeast logistics corridor are full of distribution centres, truck yards and service shops. Operators watch dock doors, trailers, fuel and fence lines, and flag vehicles that show up after hours. Calgary logistics operators can read truck yard and logistics security, dealership security, our warehousing page and our commercial and industrial page. Energy clients across southern Alberta can see energy sector security in Calgary and our energy industry page.
Pole cameras on site power, live in 5 to 7 days, with 24-hour backup power
In Calgary the standard install is a set of pole cameras fed from the site's electrical supply. Allow 5 to 7 days from sign-off to live cameras, less if your start date is tight. Each powered site gets a 24-hour backup power system, so a hailstorm or a chinook windstorm that knocks out power doesn't take your cameras down. Calgary knows that risk well: the August 2024 hailstorm caused nearly $2.8 billion in insured damage (Insurance Bureau of Canada).
Already have cameras on your building? We can monitor any ONVIF camera, so you may not need new hardware. The rare remote site with no power at all, about 4% of what we monitor, gets a solar tower that deploys within 24 hours and holds a two-week battery through winter. Cameras and batteries are rated down to -40°C, colder than a typical Calgary cold snap. Remote Calgary-area sites: off-grid solutions.
How it works
- AI detection flags people and vehicles.
- An operator verifies the alert on live video from our 24/7 command centre in Richmond.
- Voice-down. "This is private property. Do not enter. Leave now." Ignore the warning and the siren and lights start up.
- Police call. If a crime is confirmed, a supervisor phones the Calgary Police Service or the nearby RCMP detachment and remains on the call. You're notified in real time.
Calgary readers can find every step on our 24/7 live video monitoring page.
Calgary results
Across our client base, crime is cut by 98% or more. Eleven years in, our award-winning service is insurance-approved, and switching from on-site guards to live monitoring can save up to 70%. Your first month is covered by our 30-Day Performance Guarantee.
Communities served
Calgary (University District, Seton, Mahogany, Cornerstone, Livingston, Belmont, the Beltline, East Village), Airdrie, Cochrane, Chestermere, Okotoks, Strathmore, High River and Canmore. Elsewhere in the province, see Edmonton or our Alberta overview.
Frequently Asked Questions About Security Services in Calgary
Common questions from property owners and businesses in Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane, Chestermere, Okotoks, and Strathmore about security services, costs, coverage areas, and solutions.
Ready to Secure Your Calgary Property?
Tell us about your site or property and we'll suggest a camera setup and send a quote.