October 1, 2007

Work designed to reduce thefts from public storage units was honored last week at the 18th annual Problem-Oriented Policing conference in Madison, Wisconsin. The project, Operation Safe Storage, was presented by CMPD Burglary Sergeant Jim Wilson and Detectives Dan Cunius and Eric Rost. Captain Andy Leonard, now with the North Patrol Division, led the project when he headed up the Burglary Unit. 

The Goldstein Award recognizes innovative and effective problem-oriented policing (POP) projects that have achieved measurable success in resolving recurring specific crime, disorder or public safety problems faced by police and the community. Operation Safe Storage was selected as one of five finalists for the Award.

In response to a rash of burglaries at some mini-storage facilities, detectives began working with storage company owners to identify problems and potential solutions that would make these units more difficult to break into. Often, suspects would go down a row of units, cutting locks and accessing as many units as they could before officers arrived.

A site survey evaluated all aspects of the property that would make it more or less a target of crime: everything from lighting and locks to whether there were security cameras and what business practices the facilities used.  While detectives determined a number of factors contributed to the problem, they suspected using different locks on the units would have the most significant impact on the problem. Detectives also recommended a number of physical and business process improvements – better lighting, security cameras, improved employee screening and renter education. 

To test the ability of the disc locks to reduce storage facility burglaries, the CMPD identified three storage facilities as test locations and worked with the management of the facilities to distribute the new locks. Overall, after a year of the test, the sites using the new locks and other security measures saw a 72% reduction in the number of units burglarized compared to the "control" group that used no new measures. This group experienced a 30% increase in break-in's. 

The CMPD encourages renters and facility managers to use the disk locks to reduce the incidence of storage unit burglaries.