21
Nov
2017
By Calvin at 12:08 GMT, 6 years ago
I recently received the following email from Susan:
Amazon is selling a lock picking set as a Black Friday item. The advert was sent to me today. Should they be doing this? Coincidentally, on the local residents Facebook page today there was a complaint that a shed had been broken into and an expensive bike stolen. There are bike thefts reported almost daily on the site. Can firms be prevented from selling cheap theft-enabling products to the general public? While the police are attempting to prevent crime, commerce such as this is enabling it.
I get an email like this about four times a year and so thought it would be useful if I showed you one of my typical replies:
Hi Susan
Thank you for your message. You are not the first person to raise this issue with me!
Whilst I do understand your concerns (and it is somewhat annoying that such products are offered for sale in such an open public way) there is not a lot we can do about it.
There are lots of people who will use lock picks legitimately, such as locksmiths, businesses that operate self-storage facilities, hotel security staff - the list is endless. It's not an offence to have these on your person unless the police can prove that you are intending to use them to commit a crime. For example, a police officer could arrest a suspect trespassing in someone's garden if they found lock picks in that person's pocket. In this instance the suspect could be charged with 'going equipped to steal' (Theft Act).
Fortunately, the use of lock picks by burglars is rare and one of the reasons for this is that it takes a lot of time, knowledge and practice to be able to use them effectively (ask a locksmith). Actually, bump keys are easier to use than lock picks and these too are widely available and are probably used by burglars more often than picks, although once again their use is uncommon. This is why it is important to have the correct anti-pick/anti-bump cylinders in your locks and an alarm system in your home in case someone does have the ability to pick the lock on one of your external doors.
Most burglaries of people’s homes and sheds involve force of some type; levering open a window, kicking in a poorly secured front door and around 15%+ involve no force at all, because the burglar simply opens an unlocked door or reaches or climbs through an open window!
There are, of course, lots of other things that can be bought legitimately and used to commit crime, such as knives, baseball bats, various acids and alkalis, shotguns and so on - another endless list.
Read more about Cylinder snapping and bumping
Best regards
Calvin
