BELLEVUE, Wash. — Bellevue police have a warning for people who rent public storage lockers.
More than five dozen lockers have been robbed in just the last six weeks. Police say thieves have hit multiple storage locker businesses along Bellevue's Northup Way. It’s part of 12 break-ins where 60 individual units have been robbed in the last six weeks.
%
%
We were allowed inside to get pictures at Bellevue You Store It, where four units were hit last week.
“A storage locker is easy to get into, get a bolt cutter or something. Just cut the bolt and get in there,” said customer Anthony Payou.
Payou told us his locker wasn't hit.
“I worry that anything could get stolen. I would never put anything of great value in these storage lockers.”
There are surveillance cameras at many storage places but police say thieves have managed to avoid them by cutting through back fences.
“This has been a really frustrating series of thefts for us because a lot don't have a lot of evidence to go off of. A lot of times the surveillance video is at the front entrance to these facilities and these folks are coming through the back gate,” said Officer Seth Tyler, Bellevue police spokesman.
Payou is careful to lock his unit, and he checks on it at least three times a week.
“Really the lesson for folks that do have these storage units is that don't consider that they are secure, especially anything with personal information on it. We actually had a credit card that was stolen and used in one of these thefts," Tyler said.
Police are working with storage companies to enhance security and surveillance.
Cox Media Group
