The prototype of a new device designed to help fight rural crime is now being tested in one Saskatchewan rural municipality.
But it’s also for sale from the developer.
BeeSecure is a tracking device and app designed by Jeff Shirley of Rivercity Technology Services in Saskatoon through the government’s innovation challenge.
The government announced late last year that Shirley and William Topping of Brand X Technologies would work on a joint venture partnership to develop the system.
BeeSecure, fine-tuned with the ministry of corrections and policing, is now being tested in the RM of Mayfield in the Maymont area.
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Shirley has a bee and honey operation, hence the name, and originally wanted to develop a tracker to prevent hive theft.
The asset tracker can be placed in a vehicle, farm equipment or on other property and will work with as little as one bar of cell phone strength, according to the developers.
It doesn’t have a BeeSecure logo on it, and can be disguised to look like other things such as tools or water bottles.
The tracker requires a subscription to the app to work and costs are based on how many trackers are in use. If belongings go missing, property owners can track them by logging into the app and seeing the GPS co-ordinates, and then contact police.
Tina Beaudry-Mellor, the provincial minister responsible for innovation, said the government knew someone in rural Saskatchewan would be able to develop a technological solution to offer rural residents more security.
The innovation challenge is an initiative designed to engage the technology sector in finding solutions for challenges and the rural crime program was the first.
Shirley said he was happy with the platform that the innovation challenge provided.
“Through the partnership with the ministry of corrections and policing, and with feedback from our law enforcement and rural municipality partners, we have helped create a solution that will contribute positively to tackling this issue in Saskatchewan,” he said in a news release.
For more information, go to beesecure.ca.
