Thread: Crime at Your Facility

There's been a lot of crime at self-storage facilities in the news over the past couple of weeks.

Have you taken any NEW precautions to protect yourself? Are you adding more cameras or other security?

Are you alone on the property? Do you worry about being robbed? Can anyone access your facility's office from the street?

How do you protect yourself?

The day after Thanksgiving, Big 5 sporting goods will have on sale a Mossberg 500 pump action shotgun with an 18" barrel known as the "Persuader" for only $239.

Storman will be there bright and early. Properly used, just the sound of the pump racking will be persuasion enough.

As I've mentioned before, we conduct all of our business from a dutch door. The customers stand outside under a cover and we're inside in our private office. Nobody has ever complained nor care that they can't come in, the benefits of being in a temperate climate. For security our setup can't be beat. We're not changing anything security-wise now, other than adding the shotgun in a few weeks, but that's more for general security than for storage business security. I'm convinced that it is time to buy a gun and ammo while I still can, and I may not stop at just one.

worry about being robbed.
Although, I'm not too excited about lien sales sometimes. I've got one that we'll be selling next month and I have a feeling that one of the customers that is up for sale in NOT going to be happy. I'm really not looking forward to dealing with that one.

Originally Posted by tnsd

worry about being robbed.
Although, I'm not too excited about lien sales sometimes. I've got one that we'll be selling next month and I have a feeling that one of the customers that is up for sale in NOT going to be happy. I'm really not looking forward to dealing with that one.

If I am worried about a particular tenant at auction time, I just call our local police and request an officer on the property at the time of the sale. Our police department is wonderful here and they are more than happy to be present. We have a couple of officers that store with us and they patrol us every night. Just a police man being on property is usually enough to squelch any potential problems.

Keep us posted!

And btw, we have just installed 8 more cameras to up our security. I also have a baseball bat and mase at my desk. As tempting as a gun is, because we have kids, we have never had one.

Originally Posted by MusicCity Gal

If I am worried about a particular tenant at auction time, I just call our local police and request an officer on the property at the time of the sale. Our police department is wonderful here and they are more than happy to be present.

As tempting as a gun is, because we have kids, we have never had one.

I'm a police supporter, but our PD may not even show up if you called in a robbery in progress! If your PD has the time to stand by during a tense auction, that's great.

Our youngest is now 12, like you we've never had a gun in the home. In addition to her being old enough to know not to mess with it, I'll take her and my wife to the range so they will understand it.

The driving force behind us getting one at this point is not security related, I've just become convinced that there will be a time when I won't be able get one at all. It seems we're moving towards that end at a faster pace than we have been in the past. Taking or prohibiting weapons from being owned by the public just means that only the criminals will have them. I will just feel better that I have one in case I ever need it.

Hey Storman!

You do have a good point! I have not thought of it that way. My youngest is 10 and then I have one 12 and one 16 (and one 22 but she doesn't live with us anymore!) I have always thought we should get one and then go to a driving range and learn how to use them. I agree that I certainly don't want only the criminals to have them!

Our PD is always great about coming to auctions. Our auctions never last more than 30 minutes usually. We have been lucky, we have only had two this year and they were both only single units. I do have 3 that I am going to have to do before the end of the year. The PD would not have to stay for the whole thing, only have a presence there until the tenant who may be a problem leaves.

MusicCity Gal- I too hate golfers, and they all deserve to die, but you'll probably have a better experience if you take your gun to the shooting range.

Make Friends with your Neighbors! They will call in if they see something incorrect if they care!!!