By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph Police Department is seeing a string of thefts at storage units around the city.
Interim Police Chief Dave Hart says these types of thefts come in cycles, sometimes the department will see many at a time, and then none at all.
Hart says that many people when they get a storage unit develop the bad habit of not going out and checking on them.
"A lot of these reports we're getting, the last time somebody was at the storage unit was a month, two months ago, so it expands our window of when things have occurred," Hart tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. "And it makes it harder for us to recover people's property if they've had a month to move the property before we've even started our investigation."
Hart says the department is encouraging people with storage units to go out and at least check the locks and to ensure your items are still inside at least once a month.
Hart says for those who are looking into renting a storage unit, make sure there is proper security measures
"Do they have video cameras? Is it well lit? Are there people around, are there people on site, or is the traffic in and out enough that it doesn't sit there for a week with nobody coming and going, except for the criminals that are stealing your stuff?" Hart says.
Hart says not having a good record of what's in your unit can hold up an investigation with officers being unsure what they're looking for.
Hart says it’s hard to pinpoint a reason that these thefts occur.
"Some of the groups are motivated by greed, money, some of them are funding drug habits things like that, so it depends on the group and what their motivations are and what they're looking for," Hart explains. "They'll take some of the weirdest things and they'll leave some things that appear to have value, or vice versa, it's hard to say."
Hart encourages everyone that has their property stored in a unit to get out and check it at least once a month, if not more, to ensure all your property is still inside.