When you drive up to the Packed House Self Storage facility, you will notice several signs that might appear to be unwelcoming, and that is by design. We want to make sure anyone who doesn't belong there feels unwelcome, and knows that we take the security of our customers seriously! Security at a self storage facility is a multi-tiered approach, and we try to hit every level hard! When you trust us with your belongings, we don't take that lightly.
The first level of security is our signage. We want people to know that we have cameras everywhere and if you are a thief or vandal trying to get into our customers units we will catch you! The signs simply tell people;
- they are being watched
- tailgaters are trespassers and will be prosecuted as such
- if you are in the facility after our posted gate hours you will be locked in and the police will be notified.
The next level of security is our gate control system. Signs are nice but we don't want anyone coming through our gates that doesn't belong. We do that by integrating our gate control system with our management software. Unless you are our customer, you don't have an active gate code. This goes hand-in-hand with our exit keypad. You might tailgate in but you will need to tailgate out as well because we require a valid code entered at the keypad to exit our facility. This helps us correlate the entrance / exit times of everyone, so we can isolate who is in our facility at any given time. Obviously, tailgating can be an issue but that's where the next level of security comes into play. This gate control system also maintains our gate hours. Our gate is available to be used by authorized customers between the hours of
0600 - 2200, 7 days a week. We realize that some facilities advertise "24 hr access" but based on recorded criminal activity at self storage facilities across the country, the data shows that those facilities have a much high rate of theft / vandalism than those with gate hours like Packed House uses. Like my dad always said, "nothing good happens after midnight"!
The surveillance system is a key component to our multi-tiered approach to securing our customers units. We have cameras covering every inch of our facility and have recently installed an artificial intelligence (AI) system to help us better understand who is coming and going, and what they are doing when they are in our facility. If there is someone roaming our facility after our gate hours have expired, we will know about it! This AI system will also help us identify and prosecute tailgaters.
We are fortunate to have an apartment on site that adds another layer of security to our facility. Although the tenant in the apartment isn't our employee, when you are in the facility you are in their backyard and they are watching. This is especially true after hours.
While we've never had a recorded break-in, we don't take anything for granted! That's why we continue to review and refine our security policies and operations. After all, you trust us with your belongings and we want to make sure we earn that trust every single day!!
Scott Barnes
scott@mypackedhouse.com
Owner
