Thieves Targeting BA Storage Units A Growing Problem

Broken Arrow police say storage unit burglaries are running rampant across the city and that they’ve had enough.

Police have already increased patrols, but multiple mini-storage unit facilities say police met with them to help form watch groups and discuss the problems they're seeing.

In unit after unit, crooks are making their way in, stealing valuables and causing major damage.

Liberty Storage owner, John Sparks said, "They are coming through the fences, cutting the fences, and, in some cases, some people are renting units and they are coming in from the unit, so it could be a tenant or some random person."

Sparks said, in a year’s time, his business has been hit about 10 times, and he's not the only one. He said practically everyone in the industry is a target.

“I'm on a waiting list right now because there are so many of these people that have been victimized," Spark said.

But it's not just bad for business it's bad for the people who lock their items away looking for safe keeping.

Before, crooks would go into one unit and steal the items in there, but now they are getting inside one unit and cutting through the wall and going from unit to unit.

"They cut small holes and say, ‘Well, I can't get into this unit, so I'll make a hole in here and burrow through here.’ You can see they stole someone's knife," Sparks said.

He said, generally, crooks are looking for silver and gold coins, heirlooms or other small valuables they can easily carry away.

As a renter, Sparks said to be on the lookout for anything suspicious and invest in a disk lock.

"These locks are hard to put a bolt cutter through and cut these locks - you have to use a grinder to cut these locks off, so this will deter theft right here," Sparks said.

Sparks said it's important for customers to realize the storage facilities aren't like safety deposit boxes. You can get insurance, but he still advises against storing valuables if you can help it.