I came across this article recently:

Two-year-old gets trapped inside lolly machine!

It tells the story of a child in Australia that got trapped inside a "lolly machine". I wasn't sure what a lolly machine was, so I searched and it looks like it's a big machine with prizes, similar to "the claw" that is popular here in North America.

The child couldn't get back out of the machine, so a locksmith needed to be called in to open the machine and free the child.

I can't imagine any kid would do that, but apparently it happens.

Residents of Seminole (Pinellas County) that leave their vehicles unlocked may find a surprise.

It seems that the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is checking vehicles and locking them after placing a nice brochure on keeping your car locked.

This program is targeting the Palm Harbor and Seminole areas because vehicle burglary reports are above average there.

The police checked 239 cars on the evening of Feb. 5 and found 51 unlocked. That's over 21%! Wow!

I have a hard time comprehending that it's 2010 and people still leave their cars unlocked.

The fact that the police are locking your cars for you raises a few questions:

If you routinely leave your only set of keys hidden inside the car, now do you call a locksmith to open the car?

If you leave your car unlocked because the locks don't work or you don't have a key to the doors, are you going to need a locksmith to open the vehicle?

I haven't had any calls related to this yet, and I wonder if this is going to impact business any.

Deputies begin auto burglary prevention

One of the "hazards" of locksmithing is the potential conflict between the person who hired the locksmith, and the people they want to keep out.

Quite often, a locksmith is called in to keep employees, ex-wives, ex-husbands, unreliable contractors, etc. out.

It's always on the back of my mind, "What if the disgruntled (insert relationship here) comes back while I'm here?" I don't always enjoy the prospect of a job turning into a crime scene.

Here's a story about a locksmith in Oregon that had to change the locks for a woman who was trying to keep her partner out:

Oregon assistant AG Susan Gerber checks into treatment after being accused of strangling and punching her wife

The locksmith arrived to rekey the locks and witnessed a physical confrontation involving punching and choking, so he called the police.

Here's a news story about a couple that were going through a separation and the husband broke into the house:

Ill. murder suspect threatened to kill 2nd wife

The husband was a Chicago police sergeant and had lock picking tools.

The husband offered to change the locks on the house for the wife after the separation. The wife woke up in the middle of the night and found the former husband standing over her.

The wife did not know if the husband had made a set of keys or used the locksmith tools she said he carried.

When we (Sunshine Locksmith Team) rekey locks, we put spool pins into the locks whenever possible. This makes lock picking much more difficult. Not impossible, but it's going to be a lot harder for somebody without much picking experience to open the locks. I'm not aware of any other locksmith company in the Tampa Bay area that uses spool pins inside their locks. I don't know why. It does make a difference in the security level.

The next time you need your locks rekeyed we recommend you ask your locksmith to use spool pins (or mushroom pins). After all, it could mean the difference in your personal security.

Here's a story about a child in New Zealand that managed to lock himself in a vehicle:

One Click and Ashley's Trapped

It seems he grabbed his mother's keys and remote while getting strapped into the vehicle and ended locking himself in the car after his mother closed his door and went to the driver's side.

Sneaky kid. Remotes aren't toys.

The mother initially called the police. But the police couldn't open the car. So a locksmith was called that eventually got the car opened.

Careful with those keys, parents. It could happen to anybody I suppose.

Here's a rather funny story about somebody in Perkasie, Pennsylvania that tried to save a few bucks and ended up paying the price:

He Should Have Called a Locksmith

It seems somebody locked himself out of his car, and instead of calling a locksmith to open the vehicle, he called the police. People can either pay a locksmith and have a professional open the vehicle, or call the police and have somebody with little training open the car.

The police don't have the best tools or training to unlock a car. But that's not really the point of the story here.

The police arrived to unlock the vehicle and once the vehicle was opened they found marijuana and drug paraphernalia inside.

Not the brightest person. Good for the police.

Here's a story that appears today about bump keys and what some in New Jersey want done:

Scutari Wants To Increase Penalties For Illegal Use Of “Bump Keys”

What are "bump keys"?

Sunshine Locksmith Team has complied a page here about bump keys: What Are Bump Keys?

Bump keys are specially designed keys that work almost like a lock pick does. It manipulates the pins inside a lock to allow somebody to open a lock without the correct key.

This method used to be a locksmith's secret, but with the advent of the Internet, the secret has been revealed and bump keys are available from several sources online.

The news story referenced above discusses the penalties that New Jersey is considering for bump keys. Currently, bump key possession in New Jersey carries a $1,000 penalty and 6 months in prison. The penalties are being considered to increase to a $10,000 fine and 18 months in prison.

This bill is heading to Senate for discussion.

Personally, I'm all for a bill like this. Bump keys are way too easy to make, obtain, and use. I'd like to see better locks made, but in the meantime, stopping the possession and use of the bump key is a high priority for anybody concerned about security.

I did a job in Clearwater today where I had to rekey the locks of a house. The bank had just taken possession of the unit after the landlord had defaulted on his payments.

The problem here was that the tenants were paying rent. They paid to the landlord on time, so really they didn't have a reason for being evicted. But the landlord was currently incarcerated and didn't make the payments to the bank. So, since payments to the bank weren't being made, the property was taken over by the bank and the current renters were forced out.

The renters were offered a "Keys For Cash" deal. Sometimes the bank will offer $2,000 to the renters to evict if they hand over the keys and clean out the unit. The renters took this deal. It's not a bad deal at all.

I rekeyed a property in Clearwater a few months ago where the tenants were offered a similar "Keys For Cash" deal. The property was filthy. Clothes piled high, along with garbage and animal feces. It was a disaster inside. Filthy, filthy. One of the top 10 disgusting places I've had to enter and rekey. The tenants didn't take the "Keys For Cash" deal. I don't know why. Maybe it was just too much mess for $2,000. Although, if I was next to homeless, $2,000 to clean out the unit and vacate isn't really a bad deal. It may have taken a week of solid work to clean the trash out of that house, but not a bad deal to do so.

I felt sorry for the people that had to leave today. It really wasn't their fault they had to leave. They made their payments.

Sometimes your landlord can really stink.

In some areas of the country, the police and fire departments open vehicles for free.

This poses several problems.

1. These people usually have never been trained properly and have a much higher chance of damaging your vehicle. Then they leave you with the bill to repair.


2. The time and resources spent on unlocking a vehicle should be spent where the taxpayers want the money to go... community protection and catching bad guys. Not unlocking vehicles for people that don't bother with spare keys.


3. These services are usually done free, which hurts private enterprise that invests real money in tools and advertising.


4. The police generally bypass the licensing requirements, business licences, taxes, paperwork, etc. that puts a legitimate business at a disadvantage.

Sure, there are instances where unlocking a vehicle by the police would be warranted. Such as if a child or pet was trapped inside. Or some other emergency that put somebody's life at risk. But those instances are very, very rare compared to the majority of vehicle unlocking calls.

This article discusses a locksmith that has this problem with his local police department in Marietta, Ohio:

Local businessman in competition with the police

This story is about a locksmith in West Berlin that copied special security keys for the police that opened traffic light boxes, police call stations, and many stations in the city. Keys to a hotel, vehicles, mailboxes, and a television station were also made and given to the police.

File reveals West Berlin locksmith copied police keys for Stasi

What did the locksmith get sentenced to? Eighteen months of probation.

Here's a story of a locksmith that was kidnapped in Jamaica while working:

Locksmith Kidnapped

Text taken from the article:

"Its alleged that on January 13, a female approached the complainant who operates a locksmith business in St Ann and asked him to open the lock for the door of a motorcar.

While he was walking towards the motorcar, a man brandished a gun and ordered him into the vehicle.

The four allegedly blindfolded the man and took him to a location where he was kept for several days.

A demand was then made for ransom."

Sometimes I get calls to rekey the locks at a house where people are still living. I don't enjoy being the guy that locks them out.

I've done dozens of evictions and foreclosures. The vast majority are peaceful without confrontation. (Some aren't, and will be the subject of a future blog I'm sure.)

This story here describes an eviction that was tougher than most:

Aptos renter evicted, arrested three days after police standoff

The Sheriff went with a locksmith to evict this renter, but the renter would not open the door.

Normally in this situation the locksmith would need to pick open the locks. This is the part I absolutely hate. I never know if the person on the other side of the door has a gun and they are going to shoot through the door.

Well, this renter had screwed the doors shut through the frames. And he had a history of firearm use at this house.

So I guess the police entered forcefully a few days later and busted through the doors. No locksmith needed. I would have refused to open that house on that situation. The police would have to use their forceful entry tools and bust the door down.

I'm sure the locksmith was able to get the house secured after that.

This is something that lays in the back of my mind every time I go to open up a house for a landlord.

The story I'm referring to is here:

Woman may have lain dead three months

It's about a locksmith in the United Kingdom that was called to open up a building and rekey the unit for the landlord. The locksmith opened up the locks and finds a body inside the building that was there for 3 months.

That's just not something I want to discover.

I've had to open up locks for landlords and when the door is opened there will be monstrous messes. Clothes, papers, toys, etc. all strewn about throughout the house. Sometimes there's animal poop inside the house, on top of the mess. Sometimes there's fleas. (I have to come home and change my clothes after doing the houses with fleas.) Sometimes there's dozens and dozens of cockroaches. (Really! Some are just awful!) Sometimes I'll see mice dart between piles of junk. Or hear mice scratching in the oven. Sometimes there's food left in a refrigerator that has been turned off for 2 or 3 weeks. (The smell of rotten meat can be just downright nasty.) Sometimes there's holes punched in the walls. Or evidence of rodents living in the mattresses. Oh... some places are... well... disgusting!

But I've never seen a dead body. Nor do I want to see one. I hope I'm never that locksmith that discovers one.

There are a number of "locksmith" companies advertised in the area that are practicing deceptive techniques to scam unfortunate and desperate persons who have locked themselves out.

This is a growing trend nationwide. In fact, this trend has spread beyond the USA and operates in Canada and other countries.

When somebody is locked out, they will turn to the Yellow Pages and flip though the book or go to the Internet and check a directory of locksmiths. They will probably call somebody that appears local, in the hopes of getting somebody cheaper and quicker than the other locksmiths. What the customer doesn't know is that many of these "locksmiths" aren't local at all, and the prices quoted aren't what they intend on charging either.

"This scheme entices locked-out consumers with large Yellow Pages ads that give the impression you are calling a local business," says ALOA's Executive Director, David M. Lowell, CAE, CML. "These companies manipulate listings with multiple false addresses and phone numbers to make them seem like a neighborhood businesses. In actuality, the victims frequently are calling out-of-state operations that are not locksmith companies at all. The consumer is quoted a reasonable price over the phone, but when a person posing as a locksmith finishes the job, the victim is charged a considerable amount more for unnecessary and sub-standard work."

The Better Business Bureau has reported on this as well, stating that these locksmiths "are significantly overcharging consumers, charging consumers for unnecessary services, using intimidation tactics, and failing to give refunds or respond to consumer complaints".

Consumers are typically quoted a low price on the phone (usually lower than the other quotes they receive), but when the job is done they get handed a bill for an amount substantially higher than previously agreed upon in a bait and switch scam.

We have had reports from customers in Pinellas County about this practice. These customers have turned to us to complain about these other shady operations and for us to fix problems left behind from the other disreputable companies.

Please see the Locksmith Wiki Knowledge Base for more links to stories and information:

Unfair or Deceptive Locksmith Companies

Consumers Warned of Phony Locksmith Scam

BBB Warns Consumers of Nationwide Locksmith Swindle :You may have been a victim and not even know it

One of the movies at the Sundance Film Festival 2010 is the low-budget "Homewrecker".

Homewrecker is a fun, light romantic comedy about Mike, an ex-con locksmith trying to straighten his life out as a prisoner on work release laboring as a locksmith. He is approached by a free-spirited woman convinced that Mike can help her prove her boyfriend is cheating.

This is Brooklyn brothers Brad and Todd Barnes first feature film. They are excited about their premiere and want to make a career in the film industry.

Sundance has a new category called Next, which categorizes films made for under $500,000. There are 8 films in this category this year.

The film Homewrecker is based on a real person that the Barnes brothers interviewed who was working as a locksmith, on work release. We was locked up at 9 every night and would be released every morning and would help people back into their homes.

One other interesting thing about this film is what YouTube is doing. YouTube has set aside five films from last years' and this years' Sundance Film Festival that they will be renting, in it's first step towards becoming a full service online video outlet. The five films they will be renting are The Cove, One Too Many Mornings, Homewrecker, Children of Invention, and Bass Ackwards, which YouTube will price at $3.99 each.

Here's a trailer of Homewrecker. (This preview does contain language that will be offensive to some.)



The story sounds entertaining enough for me. I don't think I'll be paying to watch this, but who knows.

More on Homewrecker

YouTube blog about renting movies