The owner of Northland Storage said he wants to keep trouble away before it starts.

Fred Kraft, owner of the Mandan self-storage business, said he will let K-9 law enforcement units exercise their dogs at his establishment occasionally starting in June.

Kraft said he heard about other self-storage businesses across the country with similar programs and felt the measure could prevent crime at his 570-unit facility.

Security Self Storage of Fargo already brings in police dogs on occasion, said Kraft, who's also the president of the North Dakota Self-Storage Association.

Erik Stratton, the owner of the Fargo business, said Fargo police bring the dogs for training and exercise as part of the department's Crime-Free Mini-Storage program.

"The most important thing is increased security," Stratton said.

Deb Tellinghuisen, the Fargo Police Department's crime-free programs coordinator, said the K-9 units visit Security Self Storage once or twice a year and sniff around the perimeter of the facility.

If a dog hits on something, police would get a search warrant to enter a storage unit, Tellinghuisen said.

Stratton said his customers haven't had a problem with the program.

"If they have an issue with that, we probably don't want them," Stratton said.

Morton County Sheriff Bob Erhardt said the sheriff's department's one dog will go to Northland Storage, but he said he'll try to line up at least two more dogs from other law enforcement agencies to help.

Sgt. Lyle Sinclair oversees the K-9 units for the Bismarck Police Department. He said the department will take the dogs to storage facilities, or anywhere else, if someone requests it. But he said they don't have regular arrangements with any storage facilities.

"We don't … have a lot of free time to do stuff like that,"Sinclair said.

Sinclair said large-scale searches are time-consuming and tiring for the dogs.

Erhardt said the Morton County Sheriff's Department's dog should be up to the task.

"Our dog's in pretty good shape,"he said.

Kraft said he wants to take precautions to make sure that his business stays crime-free. He said he's already installed security cameras and lights to deter crime.

"Storage facilities are known for dead bodies, stolen property, drugs,"Kraft said. "We want to get the word out that we are a designated area for canine testing."

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com)