Unfortunately neighbourhood crime in Canada has become an epidemic. An article in the BBC in July 2024 stated “Car theft is such an epidemic that it was declared a “national crisis” by the Insurance Bureau of Canada, which says insurers have had to pay out more than C$1.5bn ($1bn; £860m) in vehicle theft claims last year.”
Interpol has now listed Canada in the Top 10 worst countries in the world for vehicle theft.
Most of this crime happens at night. You are sleeping, it’s dark and criminals can wander our neighbourhoods looking for easy targets. We install lights and cameras. I have them too. But as I have personally experienced, it doesn’t deter them. The people that have been in my driveway, checking my car doors have hoodies or masks on. Unless your camera jolts you awake at 3am it’s not stopping them from accomplishing their task.
It is for this reason I have started NightShield to help prevent crime in our neighbourhoods and provide eyes on our neighbourhood when ours are closed. Nightshield will put well trained individuals patrolling your neighbourhood all night. Our goal is to have someone on your street every hour from about 9pm to 6am. You will have the ability to interact with this person through an app we are building. You will be able to see exactly where they are in your neighbourhood (like an uber app) and message or call them in case you need help or see any suspicious activity. They will always be just a couple minutes away.
We will also try and recruit our team from the neighbourhoods they live in. We believe in neighbours helping neighbours. This is what Canada is all about – looking out for one another. We will get connected with local police and be able to engage them when appropriate. Our focus is deterance and safety.
The cost of our service will be just $1 day ($30/month) and what we’d like from you now is an expression of interest. Please fill out the form below with your name, email and address. We need a certain amount of people signed up to activate your neighbourhood. Once we reach the required amount of homes in a neighbourhood we will reach out to officially activate the service and set you up as a NightShield customer. We look forward to welcoming you as a Nightshield neighbourhood soon!