Thieves Cashing In On Public Storage's Lack Of Security

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A company that promises reliable storage of belongings has been broken into more than a dozen times in recent months.

Last month, Wendy Menken had thousands of dollars in items stolen out of the Public Storage space she rented in St. Paul.

"It was a mess," she said. "Everything was tossed."

But it's what unit renters say workers told them after the break-ins that customers consider a bigger problem.

Menken has spent nearly a decade remodeling different rooms in her house. She needed extra storage and paid one hundred dollars a month for space on Hunting Valley Road in St. Paul. Menken felt comfortable with the set-up, until a message last month.

"Saying I needed to call Public Storage urgently, there was a problem with my unit," she said.

Her padlock had been broken and a few thousand dollars in comic books and costume jewelry were gone. And when Menken asked why the alarm didn't sound, like the sign on each unit says it will, she wasn't expecting this answer.

"It wasn't on," she said.

Menken says workers told her there had been too many false alarms, so the system had been shut off.

"I was outraged. Absolutely outraged," she said.

Bette Westman says she heard the same thing when she had a few hundred dollars worth of items stolen out of her unit last month. WCCO found St. Paul police took at least 15 burglary reports at this location in the last six months.

Westman found her own concerns with the site.

"They no longer have the sensors hooked up on the doors," she said.

WCCO took those security questions to the manager who told us the local office couldn't comment, instead referring the inquiry to corporate headquarters in California. Repeated calls and e-mails went unanswered.

"I was paying for the same level of security I would have in my garage," Menken said.

Menken is now renting elsewhere, considering herself the victim of a crime -- twice.

"I didn't get what I paid for, is my bottom line," she said.

St. Paul Police say if you're looking to rent a public storage space, always call police first to check if any thefts have been reported at the property. They also said people should keep high dollar items out of public storage, saying it's just not worth the risk.