CHULA VISTA, Calif. - While public storage units can be a convenient place to store extra items, Team 10 found you might want to check yours.

Team 10 did a review of police incident reports in Chula Vista and found an alarming crime trend that even police hadn't realized.

"To have this many in such a relatively short period of time is unusual," said Chula Vista Police Department Capt. Gary Wedge.

In the last few weeks, Team 10 found that 44 units in eight facilities around the Chula Vista have been burglarized. Police aren't sure how many are connected, but believe many of them may be.

Could this sudden interest in storage units have anything to do with A&E's hit reality series "Storage Wars"?

The show's premise revolves around abandoned storage units and a group of quirky characters who bid for whatever is inside forgotten units. However, the catch is they have no idea what's inside. Sometimes it's people's junk, other times it's their treasures.

It's also a gamble for thieves. Police aren't sure if it's random, but getting in them doesn't seem to be too difficult, even with security gates.

Wedge said, "Many of these, the locks have been removed from the storage unit and then when the person comes back to the storage unit it's been replaced with a different lock."

Patricia Clark doesn't store any valuables in her storage unit, just her school's classroom supplies. She sympathizes with the victims and the facility owners.

"That's too bad because these folks are really good," Clark said. "I've been coming here for years and I've never had any problem with the people who run this."

Police are combing through surveillance video from some of the facilities, but that's little comfort for those who rent them.

A recent study found one in 11 Americans rent storage units, but it's believed to be even higher in California because of the smaller homes compared to other parts of the country and very few basements.