AM I TRAINING THIEVES ??

Hello all

When I meet someone new invariably the conversation moves onto what I do for a living. The answer "I train people to pick locks" never fails to pique interest. However, after a brief explanation of what train people in lock picking' actually means, the next question is  'Who wants to lock picks?' It's an odd question since it assumes a certain cynicism, as people tend to already have an idea, they already assume it might be someone dodgy. In short, the assumption is that thieves want to pick open locks, people who wish to steal things OBVIOUSLY want to learn to open locks and therefore in some way locksmith training merseyside is colluding with crime.

Luckily I'm not an idiot. Well, not all the time, and especially not when it comes to business & lock picking, in fact, I reserve my idiocy for all other areas of my life, the less important things like health, relationships, and family. Having been in this game now for over a 30 years I've had many conversations with law enforcement agencies of various types and all of them say much the same thing. Thieves don't care about the lock picker's primary concern: non-destructive entry. Someone who has speed as their primary concern doesn't want to be fiddling around with lockpicks, adjusting tension, looking for binding pins, etc etc. No - a hammer, house-brick, or even a foot - is far more reliable in such a situation. A police officer with more than 20 years experience on the front line said he had NEVER come across a thief using non-destructive entry tools, NEVER!

Thieves are breaking into property to get items or cash , they are not going to pay me cash to train them to pick open locks, FACT.

I'm a pretty good lock picker, given time and a few practice locks I can work out how to open most locks and if the tools don't exist for a specialist lock, I could probably come up with something to do the job. But (and it's a big BUT) I would still - were I the thief - prefer to put my foot through the door, or a sledge hammer through the window. If - like in some British crime drama - I were approached by someone who had my family hostage and was forced to steal something to get them back safely, I wouldn't look toward lock picks, in fact they would be the last thing I'd consider. The idea of getting out a torch, or a illuminated headset, spreading my lock picks out on the floor, kneeling down and in a high pressure situation try and work among the tiny tolerances of lock picking - well, I may as well not bother and pull the trigger myself.

So - who does want to learn to pick locks? I can only speak from my own experience but I'd say about 80% of my trainees are people who want to become a locksmith - obviously,  or other people such as landlords, estate agents, handymen etc. The next biggest group will be the locksport fanatics, that curious breed of people who open locks for fun, puzzle-solving types essentially, who crave new ideas, new lockpick tools, different approaches and interesting solutions to non-destructive entry.

So that's without doubt the two biggest demograpics, lock-related trades and lock picking enthusiasts. But the rest are the interesting ones. Ive trained all the emergency services, ambulance, police and fire services,  Ministry of Defense related agencies, and roadside recovery services, preppers , hobbyists, bodyguards, close protection agents.

So in answer to the question, without sarcasm the answer is simple: Who wants to learn to be a locksmith? People who want to open locks who don't have the right keys, and who don't want to damage the locks. Not thieves.

Lock Pickers of the world unite! Almost every week I get someone on Twitter ( @locksmithTM ) accusing me of aiding crime. They do so - as is the way with Twitter - with no evidence, just an arrogant sense of them possessing the truth, which is the kind of truth that invariably ends up being false, being untrue.