The Liverpool Times

Snide burglary technique on the increase.

Anyone who has been burgled will usually find that the thieves or thief gained access through a door or window. At least if you see a smashed window or door – you’ll know that nobody has duplicate keys. You also have visible evidence of a crime, which covers insurance, if you have any.

Not securing a home might invalidate the insurance. If you leave a door or window open – that might be enough to see the insurance company knock you back. If you have an alarm, which you left off, that might see you not being fully covered.

The worse unoccupied home burglary goes like this…

You arrive home, perhaps after work or a night out. You open up your door, using your keys, but soon notice that everything of value is gone. Your doors are secure, locks are secure, windows all closed and none smashed. You run from room to room, adrenalin pumping, fight or flight syndrome neatly directing you to perhaps pick up a heavy object and phone the police. You see no visible sign of an entry – and the police will see no visible sign of an entry. The police will be suspicious – but that’s their job.

Below, figure 1, a set of bump keys that will open most cylinder locks, figure 2, a set of five fire brigade keys (numbers 1,2,4,11 and 14) to allow access to communal entrances, doors, barrier padlocks etc. Figure 3, a ford tibbie (tibbe) pick, used to gain entry into Ford motor cars. Figure 4, this key is a master radar key and opens all disabled toilets in the country that use the Radar type key. All these keys and tools are on sale over the internet and many more besides.

A burglary with no visible forced entry – will have the police wondering if a family member, friend or some crooked ex partner copied your keys. Some people pass keys onto neighbours when they go away or sometimes workers. Copying keys is a known method for lowlife to take possession of your possessions.

But more and more burglaries are being committed by people who own a few bump keys which can pretty much open 90% or so of the locks out there, in seconds. There is no real noise and no force is used, beyond tapping the key a few times. The more you practice the quicker you get. Various makes of lock have their own particular ‘bumping’ technique and the internet is awash with people who are willing to instruct you how to tackle any given lock in an instructional video!

The bump key works on the Yale type cylinder door locks. I don’t mean branded Yale locks – just cylinder locks per se. It matters little if you have a £100 fancy lock connected up to the best door and frame or if it’s a cheap £10 lock. That type of lock is at risk if it’s not actually marked as ‘bump proof’.

We see these cylinder locks in use with the new UPVC composite doors, which have good frames and good multi locking points along the outside of the extremely strong door – but the locks can be bumped just as easy as some old door with a Yale lock a few decades old. Most UPVC doors have one cylinder lock because the actual multi point locking system is, in effect, as strong as fitting five or seven mortises – bolted on to a steel door. You will not boot these doors through if they are fitted correctly.

A wooden door actually weakens as you fit more locks on. It will split at the point where locks are fitted either on the door or the door frame. Hinges are also a weak point.

The cylinder lock is also vulnerable to another widely used method called ‘lock snapping’ in which the cylinder (which might protrude a few millimeters) can be pulled out by use of locking pliers due to it being weak in the middle. If the lock is flush with the door, the lowlife simply drills through and then inserts a screw, which can then be used to lever out the cylinder. An old piece of metal bent to shape will then open the door in a few seconds by flicking a lever which turns the lock. It takes less than 30 seconds to do this. A lock snapping tool is actually sold online.

Mortise locks cannot be bumped, but they can be picked, which is more difficult and needs a lot of skill. The average thief who uses bump key methods is not going to bother with a mortise lock. No way is your average scally going to be patient enough to both learn and practice picking locks when he can just kick a door in or keep an eye out for open windows. But bumping a lock is easy enough for the average scally, lowlife or ne’er-do-well scuttling about on a council estate near you.

The police will know how many reported burglaries have no sign of a visible break in. If the statistics have gone up in Merseyside, then we’re probably being done by gangs using this method. Thousands of people might have had insurance claims dismissed because the insurance companies are not going to want to pay out cash when they can deny liability. However, insurance companies have a duty to keep up with the times. If new methods of burglary are being used – then the policies ought to stipulate that the locks must be of a brand which cannot be bumped.

Below, just one offer online for a set of bump keys that fit many commonly used locks…

If your insurance company will not pay out because there is no visible sign of entry, then you ought to challenge it. It is a safe bet that some smart legally trained person has come home to find that everything is gone, but no forced entry can be seen.

Bear in mind, you cannot (as far as I know) fit a mortise lock on a standard UPVC door. You rely 100% on the safety of that one single lock that is pre-fitted. The insurance companies know this and yet they pretend that every burglary with no sign of a visible break in – is your fault!

If you’ve been burgled in a covert manner, with no sign of entry, maybe it was not your fault. Maybe you’ve been tearing your hair out wondering about how the bas***** gained access to your premises, perhaps even blaming family or close friends. Maybe the insurance companies and the police ought to have said something a few years back when these lock bumping websites were going up. It is time for them to get involved with this right now.

Bump keys are basic blank keys which have the various valleys all cut to the lowest point and the peaks or ridges left at the highest level. Though the key will not ‘fit’ the locks pins which are aligned with the valleys and ridges on the key, the actual bumping of the key will open the lock. The bumping is usually performed with a small piece of metal with a rubber cushion on the end. Scrap metal and a 10p rubber washer or two.

This bumping technique opens the lock by forcing the pins upwards which allow the cylinder to turn as the valleys of the key make contact. Slight pressure is exerted to turn the key at the point the pins jump up. You force one pin to jump and it’s like hitting pins with a bowl at the bowling alley. Connect with one and they can all go if you know what to do. And there goes your flat screen TV, your CDs, and laptop, cash, jewellery and so on.

Worse case scenario – people end up dead just because someone either bumped or forced a lock.

The lock bumping method has been long known in the USA and in Europe. Here in the UK there are websites which host forums discussing lock bumping. YouTube is full of videos which show you how to do it. An idiots guide so to speak.

Some websites actually host forums, put up videos and then sell an array of bump key sets and other lock picking tools to all-comers. It seems that 6 to 9 keys would be able to open most locks out there. Some swear on 10 keys. I’m more thinking of 10 months in jail for the idiots selling these keys online to anyone with a few quid to spare.

The internet is more lawless than the most lawless areas in the real world. Freedom of speech is one thing, but freedom to instruct people how to break into houses, really is another. Maybe these lock picking ‘fans’ need to just keep it amongst themselves – but, alas, it’s too late now.

We really ought to stop people selling a variety of goods online. We’d soon shut down a shop in the high street which sold bump keys, lock picking devices, and all manner of tools to open up doors or windows of illegal opportunity. We’d shoot people in the head for selling child porn in the local market.

It is almost certain that crews of burglars are hitting a rich vein in the UK by using this simple technique which many homes are vulnerable to. The British Standard Kite Mark designates the locks which insurance companies will accept as ‘safe’. But these locks can be bumped open just as quickly as if you had the original key. We need a new kite mark to move with the times.

You can make a bump key for your own door in ten minutes, using a blank key (or a cut one) and a small file. Tens of thousands of people seem to enjoy lock picking as a hobby and host conferences and competitions. This is useful for the lock companies, if they are actually conscientious about their products. We can draw a similarity to computer hackers. The English lad who hacked the Americans systems (CIA, NASA etc) ought to be employed by someone, not dragged to the USA to be orange suited and chain booted.

Locksmiths obviously use lock picking in a perfectly legitimate manner for the thousands of people who lose their keys and need to get back into a home or business for the spare set. Lock picking is a skill which you’d like to keep limited, a bit like hypnosis. The danger with the internet is that we no longer need to go through some long haul route to learn bad things. The world’s evil is literally a click away. But, so are we, and we’re looking to kick the backside of evil and help the good fend off the bad in our own small way.

Stealing from anyone’s home is a nasty crime. Rich or poor, nobody deserves to have the privacy of their home invaded.

Solutions for your homes security.

Rather than advertise garbage, and get paid, and not give a damn for you – we’ll be advertising, for free, any useful products which are good for home security and asking you the reader to pass on any useful tips. We’re not creating panic – just being realistic about the scum out there who will rob you in a second flat without a qualm. People out there spend a lifetime accumulating a few prize possessions. What you sweated blood and tears to actually buy, could be taken by the baddy who will barely break into a sweat to grab it all.

The good news is that you can buy locks which are bump and snap proof. You can ‘retro-fit’ most of these locks on your UPVC doors.

There is also a liquid which the makers claim can foil bumping or picking. It would be good to see the police actually test locks out with this material which is promoted by a body claiming to represent locksmiths. All the police need to do is email the companies for free samples and put it to the test. If it works, then the bump proof locks are a bit of a scam if £3 worth of some liquid can stop bumping. I’m dubious myself as to whether some liquid can stop a bump lock. Don’t buy it until its cleared!

Wooden doors are a different matter. A few kicks in the right place of the average council or social landlord property door, is all it sometimes takes. Thankfully, there are solutions for wooden doors such as frame reinforcement bars, and hinge reinforcement bars. There are also plates for your locks, which are the parts of the door which are already weakened a lot by virtue of drilling and chiselling out the slot for the lock to fit into. The best plates are bolted through. Hinges also are best bolted. A couple of simple dead- bolts offer a lot of protection, if your worried about thieves entering in the dead of night. Bump a lock all you like – but if the bolts are on, it’s going to get messy and noisy.

It might be cheaper and more practical for a home owner’s security to get a UPVC door fitted instead. With a bump proof and force proof lock!

It would be nice if the police got involved, testing out any new ‘secure locks’ and innovations in home security themselves. Some of the locks we will feature are designed by cops and tested by them. There are videos for evidence showing people trying their best to bash these locks in, bump, force or pick them. Anything short of a plasma welder and your going nowhere with some locks and certainly the steel reinforced doors and frames, which Steve Gerrard probably already has.

The police often drift off into civilian security when they retire and many have a lifetime worth of useful tips. They know the scally mindset more than most – and pretty much know that certain estates, all fitted with the same doors and windows, are all hit in the same way. Why then cannot the police get more proactive and visit the pensioners and vulnerable first, and work more with the councils and social housing using new security devices. Protect your patch, so to speak.

We’ll take a look at many products out there and give an honest assessment from our panel of experts who have been turned over by the lowlife burglars at home and business premises. Feel free to pass on tips and advice, especially if you’re in the trade of building, security or one of the thin blue line.

Alarms are useful – but you’ll need good neighbours, able bodied males with a propensity to ‘get involved’ and people to phone the police if they are not up to having a go. There are decent silent alarms which can ring a series of pre-recorded telephone numbers, with a pre-recorded message. You might need back up because you might well arrive before the police. These silent alarms, once very costly to install, now range from £40 for anyone with a static phone line, to £150-£200 for units which basically use mobile phone transmitters to signal a breach in defences. The latter units are used for boats, motorbikes, sometimes expensive cars or caravans. Use of a tracking device (another article altogether) could ensnare the chancer who took your treasures or the local schools laptops, again.

You can pay for an alarm monitoring service which will inform the police when the alarm goes off. Some firms also use remote CCTV and audio access to monitor property (with sensor software that automatically detects and records intruders) Many businesses in Liverpool already do this as its cheaper than employing on site security. There are rules in place which specify which alarm units the police will respond to. Check with your local police crime prevention officer if you’re unsure.

A normal basic audible alarm going off will not get the police running unless someone actually reports a visible/audible sign of a break in. This is now police policy. Too many false alarms go off these days for the police to take them all seriously. If the police answered every alarm, there would be no police to answer calls about actual crimes in progress.

End note

Hope you found this report interesting. I guess many people in Liverpool already know the old trick of bump keys, but it would take a 3 year stretch in the old days to learn it with drawings off some clever cell mate or one of lads.

We will report on the various top locks and security systems out there to combat the lock bumpers and snappers and the scally brute force attack on the old wooden doors and frames. Send any tips to us.