A simple solution

Is the national media wrong to inform the public about blow torch attacks and lock snapping?  Nick Dutton argues that the Mirror, the Sun and BBC Morning Live did the right thing in educating the public about the prevalence of lock snapping and why sometimes it takes shocking realities to trigger us into doing something that needs to be done.   

In January 2022, Zoe Forsey, a journalist with the Mirror ran an article highlighting ‘a terrifying new technique burglars are using to break into people’s homes…two men were caught on camera using a blow torch to burn off the locks on the front door of a family home in Bradford.’

The story was then picked up by BBC Morning Live who ran blow torch burglaries as their ‘Warning of the Week’. That featured part of a video that we made two years ago which showed a PVC door being attacked to burn away the casing and expose the metal barrel, which the burglars then attempt to snap, but fail.

As we all know in the industry, the three-star Ultion lock, made with Molybdenum (25% denser than iron and with a melting point of over 2,600 degrees) will not give way to snapping; but we also know that many standard cylinders will be snapped in seconds and the car keys taken off the sideboard.

I do not believe that it is a bad thing that the public are alerted to how exposed they are and how we in the sector can support them with a cheap and simple solution.

The original video that we shot two years ago was criticised for teaching burglars how to burgle, even though we used numerous camera angles so that the critical parts of the technique were not demonstrated.

Our argument is that burglars already know. Well established locksmiths with whom we work say that most break-ins are the result of organised criminal gangs. Unfortunately, many people doing normal jobs, like teachers or nurses, have no realisation of the danger that their goods, cars and families face every day. We want the people that have already fitted an Ultion lock in their home to know they are safe against blow torch attacks and see this in the national media.

The blow torch method is a variation of lock snapping. With three-star Secured by Design (Police Preferred Specification) locks, such as Ultion, this will not work. The door will stay locked, and the intruders will stay outside. Once attacked, the damaged door and lock will need to be repaired, but at least your family is safe, and the car is still on the drive.

Once a burglar has failed to get through the door, they are unlikely to try and break a window. They will be anxious about the amount of time and noise already made and are more likely to just move on.

The most cost-effective solution is for weak locks to be replaced with strong three-star locks. If a homeowner is upgrading their front door, not only can that door have a three-star lock, but all the other external doors in the house can be keyed alike with the same quality lock and changed at the same time as the door. This simple solution is a win-win for the door installers as well as the homeowners.

The Sun, the Mirror and Good Morning may have used powerful, scary language to talk about the burglaries, but in essence I agree that difficult as it may be, these issues must be addressed and the control needs to sit with the homeowner, not with the burglar. Control, in this case, cannot happen without knowledge and awareness.