As Comox Valley families busily plan their summer getaways, one local security company is pioneering a brand new way to keep their homes and possessions safe – and their insurance polices valid – while they’re away.

Courtenay-based Thunderbird Security is the first company in Canada to make use of a revolutionary new technology called SilverTrac. The SilverTrac software allows the company to give its clients what no other security company is able to offer: 100 per cent accountability and, if necessary, airtight insurance claims.

“In most cases, if you check the fine print of your insurance policy, it will say that it’s void if you don’t have a professional monitoring your home while you’re away,” says Liam Stackwood, founder and co-owner of Thunderbird Security. “If you’re going on holiday for two weeks, your policy might require you to have your home checked every three days, and not just by the guy next door.”

Simply hiring a security company, however, may not always ensure that your home is protected.

“I’ve had clients come to us from other companies with a big stack of paperwork saying that guards had checked their home, but their alarm system’s log showed that no one had entered the house,” says Stackwood. “Or they come home a week early and discover that their security guards aren’t showing up.”

With the introduction of SilverTrac, Thunderbird Security’s guards can now take time-stamped photos of their client’s property that prove without doubt that they were actually there. The photos are then automatically transferred to an online database that the client can access anywhere and at any time.

Because individual security guards can’t manipulate the photos or the time stamp in any way, the photos serve as an irrefutable record of your home’s surveillance to bolster any insurance claim.

South of the border, the multi-functional SilverTrac system is also being used by property managers to streamline parking and maintenance issues. For the time being, however, Thunderbird Security is focusing only on its commercial and residential security applications.

“If you’re going away on holiday, you want to drink Mai Tais and have a good time,” quips Stackwood. “You don’t want to have to worry about your home. Ultimately, you don’t want to worry about anything, except maybe ‘how am I going to get that spot I can’t reach with sunscreen?’”

For more information on Thunderbird Security or the SilverTrac system, visit www.thunderbirdsecurity.ca or call 250-339-6878.