Don't Open The Door For Strangers

Picking locks can be a risky business! Justin and Brandon recall a job in which they were hired to pick a lock for the police, and felt a bit under-dressed for the occasion.

Website: https://jjlocks.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JandJQC

Transcript

Speaker 1  0:01  
I picked the knob and I lock. And the cops like, wherever you are, unlock. You touch that door again. I'm gonna do whatever. Okay? I picked the knob again, and I go to pick the deadbolt again. The knob locks. And the guy's like, get the wheel door. And I was like, okay, so I picked the door. We get it open. And there's, there's three little kids sitting on the couch. And then the cop goes, Why did you do that? He goes like, I'm not supposed to open the door to strangers.

Speaker 2  0:21  
Welcome to access. Granted a peek inside the real life stories of physical security professionals. Now here are your hosts, Justin, John Ryan and Brandon.

Speaker 3  0:36  
Welcome back everybody. This week, we want to talk to you guys about balancing security and safety. But before we dive deep too much into that, I gotta tell you the time one of my first calls going out, there's a rental company that rents out furniture, TVs, beds, and sometimes you have to go collect those things back. So the very first errands call I ever went on, you know, I knew the whole situation, kind of intrigued by the whole deal, like, holy cow, we're meeting the sheriffs here. Like, you know, they're all vested up and everything. And I start looking around. Wait, you guys have your hands on your guns. You're wearing vests, and Justin and I are standing in front of you, in front of this door with nothing. So

Speaker 1  1:20  
I think it was the build up that was the worst, right? So we get called to that parking lot in Mylan, yes, and we're just waiting there. And then the two guys we normally meet are there. And then next time, you know, some plane clothes officers show up, and they open the trunk of the two cops that we're normally dealing with, and they start strapping vests on and racking shotguns.

Speaker 3  1:41  
And I asked them, should I have one of those? And they're like, oh, no, this guy's

Speaker 1  1:45  
just a little violent. And worst part was there, they get in there, and then two more undercover cars show up, and there's, like, six or seven guys in full vests. They come up, and they're like, we're gonna walk across the street here. We're gonna pull up on this trailer. We're gonna repo this. I don't even remember what it was at this point. We're gonna repo whatever he's or he's ordered, and then, and then we're gonna probably arrest him, because he's got warrants, right? So they all go in there, they're all super quiet, you know, like, tactical, and then they're like, your turn. Go up there and up. I'm in what we used to wear, Dickies, khaki shirts and jeans, and he's like, they're all like, away from the door hiding. And I have to go up to the door and open it, and I look at it, and the damn thing's broken. And so I walk, I turn the knob and throw the door open and walk away, as if, where the cool guys don't look at explosions, but I'm actually scared by Bohol clinch, and I'm walking as fast as I can. Turns out there was nobody there, but Brandon's in the background. He's got a cigarette in his mouth, and he's filming on Snapchat going, there's the coolest thing in the world. And I think that was the only time, the only time that we ever had them pull up and made that big of a deal. But

Speaker 4  3:01  
I think we were originally talking about padlocks, right? Yeah, oh yeah,

Speaker 3  3:06  
no, no, that's fine. So basically, if you don't know what a padlock is, get out in the world and learn something. Yeah, look around. But you know, if you need to lock up your storage unit or your bike, or, you know, your old school locker that is a padlock. They come in many different forms. Some take keys. Some take dials. Some take how have a Rolodex? Well, I Justin, you had a story?

Speaker 1  3:30  
Yeah. So speaking of Aaron's, I was my grandfather. Always told story about people re locking the door when they picked it. We went to an errands call it was a house, I believe this was in Rock Island, and I picked the deadbolt. We get it first. I go to the door, the deadbolt and the knob are both locked. I picked the deadbolt first because that's normally the hardest pick. And I go to pick the knob and I hear a click, and it's like I look at the COP and said, someone locked the door. And I picked the knob and I locked the cops, like, whoever you are, unlock. You touch that door again. I'm gonna do whatever. Okay, I picked the knob again, and I go to pick the deadbolt again, the knob locks. And the guy's like, get the wave door. And I was like, okay, so I picked the door. We get it open. And there's, there's three little kids sitting on the couch. These three little kids had been locking the door on their house. And then the cop goes, Why did you do that? He goes like, I'm not supposed to open the door to strangers. This kid had major cojones, right? And I'm like, okay, cool. I signed a ticket, signed by Aaron. They go to the repo, everything. I'm not two minutes down the street, and I get a call from the office saying, Hey, you gotta go back there. There's more doors to open. And I get there, I get back, and it turns out, not only were these kids just manly, their parents had locked up every refrigerator and every internal door of that house with padlocks, and I had to open like three or four padlocks, some of them were the Rolodex. Ones that had a like, your locker combination pad lock, but they were so cheap, they had a code on the back that I called the shop, and they got the code, and I had to pick open, like, three or four more. But I was like, not only is this kid just like, bad ass, but his parents are doing some horrible stuff. There's some weird people out there. And this kid had he's, not only is he just like locking the door and telling the cops he don't know who they are, he's having to deal with these really crappy parents. It was nuts. I think some of the most eye opening experiences I had as a locksmith about other people were Aaron's calls and evictions. You know, we have to balance the need between Padlocking everything in the house to protect somebody, and then also the attention to detail to make sure that people can't get in.

Speaker 3  5:46  
So with that insecurity,

Unknown Speaker  5:50  
insecurity, no, I have plenty of that. I'm sorry,

Speaker 3  5:54  
insecurity, so kind of explain to everyone you know why you should have security, and what you're trying to do when you tell people that you can't put a double cylinder deadbolt and lock people in a house. I mean you for the common world, you would think that's self explanatory, that that becomes a prisoner, but for everyone that may not understand, explain why we do what we do.

Speaker 1  6:19  
Well as a whole. I think the one of the things that make us so successful in securing premises, we secure the world through a physical lens as Locksmiths. So we're looking at not just, oh, did we catch them on video? Not only did we see them come in, but how did we stop them from getting there? So for us, security starts at the envelope of the building so the exterior, it starts with good door hardware. It starts with a solid door.

Speaker 3  6:48  
I was just gonna say having a solid door is you're gonna be your number one foundation. Yeah, the locks are necessary. But if you don't have a door there, there's nothing stopping them, period.

Speaker 5  6:59  
But it's, let's dive deeper. It's not just the a good door, you know. So you need a decent door to do it. But then you're going to go out to one of the Home Hardware stores around town or something else, and then you're going to buy the cheapest lock that you can get to put on it. So you're protecting Go ahead, Justin, tell them we are. Theory on this. This drives me nuts.

Speaker 1  7:21  
You're gonna buy a $45 deadbolt, you know, or a $30 we do sell $30 deadbolts because we're trying to give the customer what they want, but we try to also explain to them that you're gonna put a $30 deadbolt on a $300,000 house or $100,000 house, you're not gonna protect that investment very well with something that you can be kicked in every time on Cops. So it doesn't make sense to me just to buy that $30 deadbolt and go, Yeah, I'm secure. I don't feel safe that way, right? I have two little girls and a wife at home, and the world we live in, sadly, is something that locksmith as a whole, is something that needs to happen. The days of leaving your door unlocked and going into town because you lived on a farm are gone. But when you're looking at securing anything home, your business, your storage unit, it starts with a good locking Foundation, and it sometimes it takes a little money to do that, and

Speaker 3  8:22  
that responsibility again, falls on the owner. So in most cases, in all cases, really, you need to find a reputable business that can help you with that, rather than just going to the store and picking just any $12 deadbolt off the shelf. And we will see you guys in a couple weeks. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 2  8:39  
Thanks for listening to access granted, a podcast by J and J, access and security in association with tag. For more information about J and J access and security, visit jjlocks.com.