Anyone have a suicide on property?

[StorageLand]

Has anyone had someone commit suicide at their storage facility? If so what was your experience?

[Autodoc]

Sorry, but you are one morbid person!

No deaths here, only a few cuts and scrapes, and 2 car accidents (both involved Rider trucks -- I'm convinced Rider trucks are possessed!

[StorageLand]

Well, I wished it was my imagination... LOL

I recently spoke with the managers from a facility I was the operations manager at and they had two (2) separate suicides this past year. The same company had one many years before that.

[Autodoc]

Maybe they need to lower their rates

Just kidding -- that would suck! Imagine the paperwork involved with that! No thanks...

And here I thought we had problems with the homeless person no able to pay for the 10x25 space with all the trash in it. Oh well, my job is not to judge...

[MisterJim444]

You have to prepare for almost anything!

Autodoc and StorageLand

I think that the underlining message in your posts is that as managers and owners, we better be prepared for a crisis. It can come from any direction. I have always trained managers to understand that they are not policemen or firefighters. I can still remember talking to one owner at an ISS Expo who told me that when his manager called him to tell him that they had a fire - the manager had not yet called 911!!!!

The aftermath of these situations can leave a long term negative impact on a facility if the media is not properly dealt with and I do not think that is the job of a manager or any other employee. While owners may not like hearing that, they are the one who aresigned on the mortgage and if anyone is going to say something stupid that could be twisted by the media and make cast the business in a bad light, I would much rather see it be the owner.

Look forward to seeing you both in Vegas.

MisterJim444

[Randyt]

Suicide at a self-storage facility

It is sad to say, but we have insured facilities that have had suicides and found dead bodies. It is important to have a crisis management procedure at your facility. We suggest that the 1st thing you do is call the police and the fire department. Why both? Since you are not a medical doctor, you might have someone that is still alive. Get the police and the EMT there asap. Then, call the owner of the facility. Hopefully part of your crisis management procedure has a section regarding talking to the media - and NOT talking to the media. Document everything and do advise your insurance agent. You never know when something of this kind can develop into a lawsuit. Let me know if you need anything else.
Hope to see you all at ISS in Vegas!
Randy

[theil]

For real

Dallas Texas 2005

A gyn doctor was evicted for illeaglly operating a GYN office out of a 10x10 climate controlled storage space. Duh

How did he find his clients????????

[extra attic sc]

guys... i have never thought of this side of the storage game... i do agree that you have to be prepared for god knows what, but hadn't quite thought about it to that extent... i hope i never have to deal with that!

[managers2]

I really appreciate reading your responses. It's definitely very important to have a crisis plan. I'll pass this one on to our managers.

[Sandrat]

Not at our storage.

Have not experienced a suicide since I have been a self storage manager, but I had one when I was a motel manager in a Chicago suburb. It was pretty obvious: room was deadbolted and safety latch in place from the inside of the room.

[drewwhitney]

suicide at a self-storage facility

Just thought I'd post the news here regarding a suicide July 15 at a storage facility in Hopewell, N.Y.

Although it seems unlikely that a manager will ever encounter such a scene, it does, unfortunately, happen.

Take the advice of Randy and Jim above, and that of the Boy Scouts: Be Prepared. In these situations, how comforting it could be for a manager to have a crisis-management procedure to guide them to making the right decisions. Makes sense, doesn't it?

[ColleenK]

Although it appears to be a suicide, it also could be a homicide, or it could be a homicide/suicide situation. In any of the cases, it seems that you would want to block off the isle or an area away from the incident to protect any evidence, as well as protecting the privacy of the victim. Then immediately call the police. While you are waiting for them, get witness information and ask them if they can wait for the police. Then prepare yourself to be asked by the police for unit owner's information, and, if you have cameras, they will also want to view your recordings for that day or even several days before, depending on unit activity. If asked for records by the police, remember to always give them copies of your file and camera records, not the originals.

You should never involve yourself in the area of the incident, nor assume that the person is dead. And never talk with the press. Do you have a designated person, perhaps the owner, who is always the only company spokesman?

[Willar]

We had a girl a few years ago rent a storage unit on a Friday afternoon, then on Saturday afternoon she pulled her car into the unit, got out and closed the door, then climbed back in the car and let it run. Our man found the unit with the door unlocked and open a few inches on Monday morning. He figured out what happned pretty quick and we called the police.

Rule #1 - Do not tell the police what you want on the phone. When you call, just ask for an officer to stop by because you need to talk to him. That way it doesn't go out over the air on the radio that you have a sucide (or whatever) at your place. News people listen to scanners all day long and might beat the officer to the scene if it's announced over the radio.

Once the police report came out, the local newspaper did not put our name in the paper. They simply reported that a girl had committed suicide and the name of the street. Almost no one knew about it and we never had any problems other than a terrible feeling over the whole thing. But there was no way we could have known or done anything about it. It was just very sad for everyone.

[Tall Terri]

Suicide at storage

A few years ago there was a male who rented a space and put some items into this (not my experience - heard from officer who responded). The male sent his mother a letter to arrive on Christmas that his code was this and the key was enclosed and he would be found dead. He had overdosed. His mother found him. Pretty Darned Sick.

[peten]

I've been lucky that my managers and tenants are quick to call 911.

We had a guy die of a heart attack two minutes after I was talking to him.

On a side note, we had to man the gate to let the emergency vechicles in/out without delay.