Last week, after a Florida facility holdup was caught on tape, I wrote a post about using video cameras at self-storage facilities to deter crime. Here's a quick addendum, in case you need any more convincing. And this one addresses the issue of padlocks too.
Two men were recently arrested in Delray Beach, Fla., for allegedly breaking into units at several storage sites. They were busted because a local officer recognized their van after seeing it on the surveillance tape provided by one facility. He stopped the vehicle, noticed it was filled with goods like those stolen as well as several cut padlocks. After getting permission to search the vehicle, he and a fellow officer arrested the 48- and 51-year-old culprits.
The incident was covered in the Sun-Sentinel. I personally found a couple of interesting comments in the article. Here's one:
"They slipped in undetected early in the morning, cut padlocks off the storage bays and took appliances, generators and power tools. They would skip storage bags locked with a thicker, circular storage lock, police said."
I'm sure our industry lock vendors should be thrilled by such an endorsement of their product. Take Lock America Inc., for example, which specializes in providing disc locks and other security items. (In fact, you can hear a bit about this during tomorrow's Legal Learning webinar. The company's marketing consultant, Rich Morahan, will be providing the event's "Motivational Minute" presentation.)
The other thing I found interesting was the article attributed the officer's success to the presence of video cameras at an Uncle Bob's facility in Delray Beach, where the villains "slipped up" by being caught on tape. This is yet another testament to the power of self-storage security. If you'd like to learn more about your options for gate access, surveillance, communications systems, etc., make sure you check out the upcoming June issue of ISS, our Annual Security Edition. You can actually skim through last year's version here.