How easy to pick a lock...

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

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Not robbing anyone, honest guv!

Had a bit of an odd situation this afternoon. I pulled into my road to see an ambulance, two paramedic cars and five paramedics/doctors/nurses/ambulanciers standing outside my house. Slightly concerned I went up to them to find out that they had received a 999 call which led them to believe there was someone struggling to breath in my house (I didn't think to ask how they came to this conclusion). No one was in, and as my neighbours didn't have my phone number, they had no choice but to break into my property.

Now I completely understand why they had to break in, but I was wondering why they chose to break in through the window, rather than say pick one of the locks on either the front or back door? How tricky is it to do? I know that when I had a locksmith out to get in my garage he had it done in seconds. Now I understand that was his job, but in the time it took them to knock on the neighbours doors, inspect my property for access, try to get break in the front door and fail, break in to the window, get all their gear through the window etc, could they not have picked the lock in that time? Especially as in my case my windows and doors are old and ****; they would have been there a lot longer if I had a decent door and windows. Plus they wont have the overhead of having to repair people's property afterwards.

So how easy is it to pick a simple yale lock (or similar) if they had the right tools and a bit of training?
 
They weren't paramedics/doctors/nurses/ambulanciers, they were secret service and bugged your house.
 
Uhm...because in emergencies you don't waste time faffing around picking a lock? Troll thread? :rolleyes::confused::eek:
 
Not all locks will be easy. Going through a window will probably always be quicker.

Although I wonder how tough double glazing is.

Maybe they get commission from local glazers? :D
 
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99 percent of doors locks are under a minute.

most people will do windows as fitting new pane is a simple procedure.
 
If they honestly beleived someone needed serious medical attention i doubt they'd wait the 10-20 minutes of precious time it would have taken to get a locksmith out.

Plus ofc unlike a theif they have no need of being stealthy, its not like smashing a window is going to draw any more attention than a bright yellow abulance with flashing lights is
 
I guess that if you're about to enter a building and perform potentially life-saving care, you don't want to mess around trying to pick a lock which might make you more stressful, less calm, etc. At least breaking a window is pretty straightforward.
 
coolsurfer said:
They won't be able to pick my avocet abs lock or snap it.
Click to expand...

Well they can snap it just like any other :D.

There's a few videos of avocet being picked so don't buy into the marketting too much(well at least that's what the video shows I have no idea if it's the same lock).
 
~>Dg<~ said:
99 percent of doors locks are under a minute.

most people will do windows as fitting new pane is a simple procedure.
Click to expand...

Locks are getting a lot more difficult to pick now according to the locksmith who I saw working on my friends house a few weeks back. In the end he had to drill the lock out as traditional methods werent working.

Its good that they cant be picked so easily,but costly that you need a new barrel and keyset once its been drilled.

Was a ten minute job with regards to drilling and replacing. Something I think I could do myself given the time.
 
Kaeo said:
Uhm...because in emergencies you don't waste time faffing around picking a lock? Troll thread? :rolleyes::confused::eek:
Click to expand...

I understand that they don't want to waste time, but if picking a lock only takes a few seconds, then there wouldn't be much faffing.

adolf hamster said:
If they honestly beleived someone needed serious medical attention i doubt they'd wait the 10-20 minutes of precious time it would have taken to get a locksmith out.
Click to expand...
I'm not suggesting they call a locksmith, I'm asking whether it would be possible for them to pick the lock themselves.

adolf hamster said:
Plus ofc unlike a theif they have no need of being stealthy, its not like smashing a window is going to draw any more attention than a bright yellow abulance with flashing lights is
Click to expand...
If they had just smashed the window there would be no debate, smashing a window will always be quicker than picking a lock, but they didn't smash the window. It looks like they used a crowbar to bend the frame and then repeated this a few times eventually snapping the handles which allowed them to get in.
 
mpledge52 said:
...I was wondering why they chose to break in through the window, rather than say pick one of the locks on either the front or back door? How tricky is it to do? I know that when I had a locksmith out to get in my garage he had it done in seconds. Now I understand that was his job, but in the time it took them to knock on the neighbours doors, inspect my property for access, try to get break in the front door and fail, break in to the window, get all their gear through the window etc, could they not have picked the lock in that time? Especially as in my case my windows and doors are old and ****; they would have been there a lot longer if I had a decent door and windows. Plus they wont have the overhead of having to repair people's property afterwards.

So how easy is it to pick a simple yale lock (or similar) if they had the right tools and a bit of training?
Click to expand...

How were they to know how you had the door secured? It might have had bolts securing it from the inside for example.

Picking can indeed take seconds, but it can also take a heck of a lot longer - the fastest picking is often down to chance (e.g. if you rake the pins) but it's not guaranteed to get you in. Check out Bosnianbill on YouTube for an excellent lock-picking channel - it'll educate you in which locks to choose for your property, but it will mainly show you that all locks can be defeated.

It's also worth noting that depending on the methods used, picking can irreversibly damage the lock, so it wouldn't necessarily be cheaper than breaking the glass in terms of replacements.
 
Emergency services don't function like normal people. To them every millisecond caneam the difference between saving a life or losing one, and a window or frame is fairly easily compromised and it's a sure thing. It's much safer knowing that you can compromise a window in a minute than to spend potentially ten minutes faffing around with doors that are double bolted, chained, triple locked, etc. Yes the door may have one simple lock but they don't know that and when a life's at stake, you don't take chances. It's the same reason fire crews chop the roofs off perfectly good cars which have been in a minor fender bender, because getting that person out of the car with minimal risk to neck, spine, brain or internal organs is much more important than a car. These guys are trained to do this, we have some of the best emergency services in the world. I hope you offered them a cup of tea :)
 
coolsurfer said:
They won't be able to pick my avocet abs lock or snap it.
Click to expand...

Theres always someone who can pick anything. :)

Enthusiasts make it their mission to pick so called 'unpickable' locks, and they always seem to find a way around any security features in no time flat!
 
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