How does the locksmith know it's your house?

About a year ago, I was living with a boyfriend in a NYC apartment building- no doorman, maybe 10 apartments total, locked outer door on the street. He had gone away for a few days, so I was by myself- predictably enough, I left the keys on the table when I went to the bakery downstairs and locked myself out. :smack:

I managed to get into the building by following someone in, and then I camped out in the hallway outside the apartment door and called a locksmith. He came within a half-hour, I let him in the outside door, and we made pleasant small-talk while he quickly and efficiently drilled through the old lock, put a new lock on the door, gave me the new key, and relieved me of $80.

This got me thinking- he never asked for proof that I lived there- if he had, I could have pulled out some mail with my name on it, but only after I was inside. I wasn’t on the lease. Couldn’t I have easily been an ex-girlfriend who wanted into the apartment building while her guy is out on vacay? Do most locksmiths ask for proof of residency before they go drilling into people’s locks, especially somewhere like NYC?

Can you just show up at whatever house you want, call a locksmith, and get in? Would a locksmith be legally liable for letting someone in who doesn’t own the place?

I don’t have an answer for you, but this reminds me of the Police Squad TV series where Frank Drebin (Leslie Neilsen) is undercover as a locksmith and breaks into someone’s house. So, the owner says “who are you and how did you get in here?”

Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant Police Squad answers “I’m a locksmith. And I’m a locksmith.”

Comedic genius that series was.

He should have verified it with some form of ID, either before or after he opened the door for you. This is a major point of liability for locksmiths and locksmith shops. This is why most states require locksmiths to be licensed and bonded.

When I was working as a locksmith everyone in the shop was told on a daily basis, “Make sure you get some sort of verification of address when you do a lockout.” We were taught to take a minute while getting our tools together or whatever and talk to the client, first by asking them outright for a picture ID, and if they didn’t have one on them, ask questions like, “How did this happen?” “You’re sure you don’t have your keys on you?” stuff like that. That second question may sound like a strange thing to ask, but trust me, on at least a couple of jobs the person actually did have their keys in a back pocket, or sitting on their car seat or something. We were also taught that if a job seemed suspicious, to just walk away, which I also did more than a couple of times.

Anyway, if a locksmith breaks into a house/business/wherever and the person who hired them is a crook and proceeds to rob the place blind, the locksmith would be liable as an accomplice, so it should be in his/her best interest to check up on these things.

Correct. We ask for either an ID that shows your name living at the address that needs to be unlocked OR a bill for that residence that matches a name on ID (in case you just moved, currently renting, etc.). DCnDC mentions that common sense goes a long way in these situations and if you have reason to suspect that something shady is going on then your best bet is to require ID before hand. Our dispatchers make sure to stress, no matter the situation, that ID is required before entering the premises. If they can’t produce that, we tell them that we cannot be of assistance. There’s no sense in risking your business over one call.

With that said, I have made exceptions in the past. On hand I helping a woman that was locked out in just her bath robe while taking out the trash one cold winter’s morning. Her ID was inside and I was able to speak with a neighbor who confirmed her as the tennant. I made an exception to requiring ID beforehand because this obviously was a plausible situation. Once I got her in, she was able to produce evidence that she lived there. Granted, it was a risk, but given the circumstances it was a very, very small one.

Still, there are risks. Just because the ID matches the residence does not mean you’re 100% clear. They could have just been evicted days or hours before hand. That hasn’t happened to me or anyone that I work with but still, the possibility exists.

Same situation with cars. ID must match title or insurance card which are cross referenced to the VIN number. If they do not have ID on them, say it is locked in the car along with the keys, then we normally open the door, grab the ID and title/insurance card and check before we allow them access to the car. If something doesn’t match, the door is locked and shut and the authorities are notified.

This is the second locksmith related question in as many days. I feel important!

Ah, I got it. I guess this guy was simply not doing his due diligence. Then again, I also look pretty innocent grins evilly

[QUOTE=Dynamo;12323373
This is the second locksmith related question in as many days. I feel important![/QUOTE]

Glad your around, I am the charter member locksmith, and I have been quite the slacker checking the boards and mostly lurking though. Nice to know Someone is picking up the slack and getting answers out in quick order!

Wow, that’s great to know I’m not alone here. Really great, diverse group on these forums. Sorry to derail but just wanted to issue some praise.

I helped out a neighbor who had been locked out once – let her in to use my phone to call the locksmith. (Years ago, before cell phones.)

The locksmith asked her for a picture id, and actually had a form on a clipboard where he copied down the information. He said his company required him to do this, and they filed the form. The form had lots of places for various types of other identifying info, like looking at mail, etc. And he wrote down my info on the form, as a neighbor who had identified her as living there. He had also already checked the building directory and found her name, and that was marked on the form, too.

I remember being rather impressed at how thorough this company was at verifying identity.

Remember the pilot of the Mary Tyler Moore Show? Rhoda was supposed to get Mary’s flat but Phyllis beat her out of hit by signing a lease for Mary. Then Mary comes back home to find Rhoda has hired a locksmith to open the door to Mary’s apartment.

Then Mary explains to the locksmith that it’s not Rhoda’s flat.

Locksmith) If that’s true then I just helped you break into her apartment
[Rhoda shrugs]
Mary) Yes, you did
Locksmith) [to Rhoda] Let me see your driver’s license
Rhoda) [laughs] I’m not showing you my driver’s license
Locksmith) OK, but then I’m gonna memorize your face [stares intensely at Rhoda]

Did he even try to pick it, or was there no difference in price?

There would have to be a difference in price, considering he replaced the lock, unless he was using hardware he had taken off of someone else’s door(locksmiths often take away and keep locks they replace to be mined for parts or doing customers a favor by selling them a used lock at a discount instead of a brand-new one).

Picking the lock is something I would have tried first, but some guys don’t like to do it or just aren’t good at it. His time/labor cost was probably at least $50/hr, and attempting to pick a lock can be a huge waste of time, especially when you’ve got other jobs scheduled; you try to get in and out as quickly as possible both for your sake and the customer’s. My shop always advocated “Only try to pick a lock for a maximum of 10 minutes. Longer than that, it looks like you’re either wasting time or you don’t know what you’re doing.” which is totally true, even if you’re genuinely making an effort and completely know what you’re doing. Some locks just don’t pick, and nobody likes to look like incompetent.

Maybe the guy should have tried to pick it, but he didn’t even check her ID. Sounds to me like he was in a hurry, like he had another job waiting or it was the end of the day or something.

Could have been either a decent quality or high security lock and he knew better to even try picking it.

True. But even in those cases I liked to give them a quick rake just for the hell of it, unless it’s a Medeco or Primus or something with more than just pins. Never know when they’ll just pop open and save you the trouble of drilling and replacing.

What about trying out those automated electric lock picker tools? I thought that they were pretty effective on most locks. They are too noisy for a burglar to use, but that should not bother an authorized locksmith.

Many locksmiths frown on those, myself included. It does the same thing as a rake with the same success rate. Fact is, they’re really no better at opening a lock than an experienced locksmith with manual picks.

I lived in a hotel converted into apartments in a bad part of Oahu for a year, and I worried about the lock being jimmied/picked/broken on a pretty regular basis.

That is, until I locked myself out and had to call the locksmiths: they didn’t ask for ID (although I spoke pidgin and my landlord called people who knew him, so they probably took his word for it). They assured me that I’d be inside in just a minute, and pulled out some manual picks. When those didn’t work they tried an electric pick. When THAT didn’t work they did a bunch of stuff I didn’t recognize.

Two hours later, the door was still locked: either they were terrible locksmiths, or I lucked into having an incredibly resilient door (which is what I assumed). Since it was a hotel door the inside handle didn’t lock, and they finally got me in by stringing a unfolded hanger under and up the door and grabbing the inside handle with it.

Since the question’s been answered, I don’t mind continuing the hijack with quick mention of a Nero Wolfe story where a businessman (a) explains that he works out of the house and (b) readily consents to a tap on his own phone to learn whether his secretary is passing inside information. Our heroes naturally agree. The guy doesn’t live there.

Your landlord didn’t have a key?

Hotels generally don’t skimp on the hardware, especially if it was a decent hotel. They could have drilled it but then they’d have to replace the lock at extra cost; maybe your landlord asked them not to do that. And that hanger thing? Probably the first thing I’d have tried. But shhh! It’s one of those secret trade tricks that the general public usually wouldn’t think of.

I worked in a high rise building where a contractor could open a door faster that way then I could with a key.

A friend of mine lived in a high-rise where apparently the thieves’ favourite method was to put their foot on the frame beside the door, their butt on the other side of the doorframe, and push. The walls were metal 2x4 construction, so the whole frame bowed enough to allow a normal door latch to pop open.
After that break-in he put an extra-long deadbolt on the door.

Of coure, if the locksmith shows up from your call, opens your door, and goes away without talking to anyone else - who’s going to know it was him unless they remember his van parked right outside the front door? (Even then, if it’s a short stay, nobody may remember) If he had to park half a block away, they’d never know. Do the police canvass every locksmith after every break-in?