San Diego Lock & Safe™ :: Ask the Locksmith Blog! (Notes from the Trenches)

Thursday, January 04, 2007

A random MySpace Blog entry about locksmiths...

How locksmiths are sometimes perceived:

...Does it seem like a locksmith is one step away from being a criminal? Like learning to be a locksmith would be a great way to learn how to be a crook? Yea, I'm sure they sign some paperwork that says they'll only use their powers for good, but I guess it just seems like even a run-of-the-mill locksmith would be capable of handily filching from whomever they wanted.

I say this becasue not long ago I locked my keys in my car and had to call one of these bandits. I thought he'd come with that fancy coat hanger thing that they slide down the window. No. He asked what kind of car it was. I told him. Fifteen minutes later he shows up with a key, opens the door and asks for 85 bucks. THESE GUYS HAVE SKELTON KEYS FOR EVERYTHING. They can get into whatever car, house and, I'm assuming, double-wide they want to. The movies always depict their lockpickers as stealthy, sophisticated agent types- wrong. Apparently all you need to be is a convict with a passion for robbing others blind.

I'm not saying we need to be distrusting of all locksmiths. That's a good start but...Just think about it...

Hey John...

As a locksmith, I feel a need to ask a philosophical question or two of you, and let you know most of us are actually pretty good folks. :)

You called this guy out to open your car, he did so... You're offended by that, why? Would it have been more acceptable or less offensive if he had used a tool to do so, and it still took him less than 5 seconds (our average)?

This may or may not make you feel better about locksmiths, depends on your overall outlook I suppose, but there are reasons he used a key rather than a tool. This guy most likely used what in the industry is called a "jiggle key". Jiggle keys are available for only a few certain types of cars, and within that category of cars, some are easier to open than others. Some take quite a bit of "jiggling" for it to work, others are not at all secure to begin with and can literally be opened with a paperclip, the key is just a handy method. Jiggle keys are "kind of" like masters (skeletons), but not really, there's still skill involved. Jiggle keys are a type of lock picking. The methodology is the same. It's the manipulation of the tumblers within the lock using a special key rather than a pick. Sounds like your car happened to fall into the easy open subcategory unfortunately. :) The main reason a locksmith would use a Jiggle key rather than a tool if the car being opened allowed for it, is that the possibility of linkage damage or weather stripping damage or window tinting damage is 100% eliminated. If you have a tool that will save you and the customer time, and eliminate any possibility of damage, why not use it? :)

You're absolutely right that locksmiths could, if they wanted to, become pretty good criminals. They rarely do. The main reason I suppose is that the art itself is an old, time honored, and believe it or not, highly skilled tradition that takes years to learn, and learn well. Most "real" locksmiths are much more interested in doing the job well, and correctly, than they are in thinking about what they could steal. They're kind of nerds in a way, as they tend to get much more excited over how quickly they opened the safe, or the technique they used, or how they repaired a lock rather than replaced it, and tend to go on and on to their fellow locksmiths about such nerdy subjects at length. Standing in a room with a group of locksmiths is like standing in a room full of Microsoft programmers, it's ALL tech talk, utterly incomprehensible, and endlessly boring to anyone who can't make head's or tails of it. :-D

There is however, a new and growing subset of individuals out there that learn lock picking and other quasi-locksmith skills for all the wrong reasons. There are whole movements, websites, books, videos, etc., available that teach this to anyone who wants to know it, always with the disclaimer that it's "just for entertainment purposes". That, to me, is the scary part. There is no tradition, honor, or skill bound up in that, and these are the things that keep locksmiths honest.

So yes, locksmiths "could potentially" be dishonest. Yes, they CAN do or get into just about everything. That's what they're trained to do, and what you want them to do. But they are required to be licensed in Illinois, and everyone in any state that requires licensing should make sure the person they call out IS licensed. Licensing in Illinois, as in California (where I am) is an relatively extensive Department of Justice and FBI background check, fingerprinting, and an inability to get a license if there is any criminal past. That's a good thing. :)

Cheers from one of the good ones...

Kim
Owner
San Diego Lock & Safe

We're not your normal locksmith company™... :)

p.s. I certainly understand this perception. It must be incredibly annoying to be frustrated and upset, having locked up your keys, or needing rekeying, etc., only to have some guy or gal show up and fix this irritating problem in just a few seconds, and to charge a hefty fee for it on top of it. I do understand. There's a reason tho' that you can look in your phonebook any given year and have only a third of the locksmiths from last year still be in business the next. The costs to go into this business are staggering, the endless training to keep up with new technologies, the new proprietary equipment needed yearly (or more) to be able to do what the customer wants, the availability to come out when you need us, even if it's the middle of the night, gas costs, and on and on. That's not to say that you can't make money in this business, you definitely can. But it takes years. But the old adage about having to spend money to make money is more of the truth in this business than in any other I've encountered. Locksmiths don't often get rich n the money sense, but they do get rich in knowledge, rich in ability, rich in accomplishment, and rich in pride. That's better in many, many ways. :)

technorati tags: locksmith, criminal, crook, skelton keys, skeleton keys, lockpickers, jiggle keys, lock picking, locksmith skills, rekeying

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Monday, January 01, 2007

A "Fairytale" Mr. President?

Remarks of Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama
Against Going to War with Iraq

| October 02, 2002 at the Federal Plaza, in Chicago, IL
(Two weeks before Congress voted to authorize war in Iraq.)

October 02, 2002

"...Good afternoon. Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti-war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union, and drive the scourge of slavery from our soil. I don't oppose all wars.

My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton's army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not fight in vain. I don't oppose all wars.

After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again. I don't oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism.

What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income - to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear - I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the President today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings. You want a fight, President Bush?

Let's fight to make sure that the UN inspectors can do their work, and that we vigorously enforce a non-proliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons already in their possession, and that the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across the globe. You want a fight, President Bush?

Let's fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil, through an energy policy that doesn't simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil. Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair.

The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not -- we will not -- travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain..."

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(Emphasis/Italics, mine.)

KNOW the FACTS
Don't just believe the talking heads, look it up - It's all out there for you. :)