CubeSmart,located at 1980 White Plains Road, has recently been the target of a string of robberies, and according to police, the chain storage faciliy’s response has been pretty dumb.
The Morris Park storage facility has been targeted for break-ins five times in the last month, Deputy Inspector of the 49th Precinct Kevin Nicholson said, and the facility’s management has done nothing to combat the problem.
“This is a location in the 49th Precinct that is a chronic crime location,” Nicholson said. “On January 18, February 5, twice on February 21 and again on February 22 the location was burglarized. I would like to alert residents that this property has become unsafe.”
The facility is a large warehouse, with hallways lined with storage units equipped with roll down gates that are secured on top with a metal mesh material, according to police, which makes it easy, once someone is in the building, to break into the individual lockers.
“The owners of the facility are not assisting us in what we are telling them to do to fix the problem,” Nicholson said. “As a matter of fact the are just ignoring what we are saying completely. I have spoke with the district manager, Ruben Tejeda, and he tells me there is nothing he can do about it.”
According to Nicholson, the types of items that were recently stolen included bicycles, lap tops, televisions, a leather jacket, a safe, and jewelry.
Nicholson said because Cube Smart’s management is not responding to efforts to stop future thefts and help nab the culprits, the police department is alerting the public to the situation.
“Security wise, the police department feels its an unsafe place for people to keep their stuff,” Nicholson said. “As of right now, we have no idea how the burglars are getting into the facility, but we are working on finding out.”
