Crime Statistics Creve Coeur, MO February 2011

Pictured here is a map of the Creve Coeur, MO municipality and the statistics of crime reported in the source below. from the Creve Coeur Police Department.

The Creve Coeur Police Department is well known in the west county region for it's effectiveness on reigning in crime. They are a credit to their funding.

In February 2011, according to the picture here, there were 265 incidents reported to police.

These incidents include at least 200 alarm responses that police attended.

Police attended to 5 incidents where they wrote Breaking & Entering as the incident.

Police attended to 16 incidents where they wrote Property Crime as the incident.

Police attended to 39 incidents where they wrote Theft as the incident.

There are many reasons that crimes occur. Many of the incidents can be prevented by increasing your security preparedness.

An alarm system is one method, but prone to many false alarms. Police attend to monitored alarm calls, but there is usually a cost, borne by the homeowner or resident. Often police will allow 1 or 2 a year free, but regular false alarms add up to significant manpower hours, that are billed to residents.

Cost effective security products like door frame strengtheners and quality deadbolt locks are essential to improving the security of your properties. Often these small purchases can protect you and prevent crimes like break and enter.

Equally as important are key control systems. Key control systems, restrict the ability of authorized key holders to duplicate keys. Many incidents are happening because owners or managers are unaware of who may have a copy of their key. Preventing unauthorized access to your property significantly reduces crime of opportunity.

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Key Points To Consider For Key Locking A Clients Door

Choosing the suitable key lock for your door is a process that doesnt really require much thought however, sometimes it can be rather daunting to sort through the literally thousands of options in the marketplace.

Many customers choose to source their information online these days and there are many and varied opinions out there offering personal, sometimes biased opinions on what to choose.

For these reasons, I decided to write an article about the key points to consider when choosing the suitable lock for your chosen door.

Is the door a front or rear primary entrance?

- Many AHJ's (authorities having jurisdiction) require dwellings to comply to the international building code, when considering the form and function of a desired key locking product.

- A primary entrance is usually considered the feature point of entry into a dwelling.

- Authorities having jurisdiction are usually the local fire marshal or local government building inspector.

Is the door construction, metal, wood or another material?

- Different entrances can be built from different materials, sometimes due to fire regulations or distances to or from another entry point or due to the types of materials or objects stored within that entrance.

- There are different grades of hardware measured by ANSI (American National Standards Institute), that are designed to guide people to choosing the suitable quality product that meets or exceeds the customers desires, the building code bylaws, life safety codes or ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) bylaws. The three common grades are Grade 1 (high quality commercial use), Grade 2 (medium quality commercial and residential use) and Grade 3 (low quality residential use).

Aesthetic value or importance

- Matching the unique style, color or ambience of a doorway is sometimes an important consideration to customers, intent on maintaining a certain status quo of their chosen entrance/s. There are many differing options available to choose from and many hundreds of different manufacturers that make similar or slightly different variations of the same product.

Is the ability to limit who can duplicate keys of importance?

- Many customers are unaware who has a copy of their keys. Restricting or controlling who can be authorized to duplicate your keys can protect you from potential loss. A key that can be duplicated at any hardware or key cutter means that you cannot control access to your doors.

-Locksmiths have been producing key control products for many years that provide the consumer with a level of protection that other hardware suppliers cannot.

Locking Functions

- There are different functions provided by different models of locks, tailored to many discerning requests. Sometimes it is vital and important for a key lock to only be operated on the outside. Sometimes it is important to be operated from inside too. Sometimes a push or turn button is desired inside, that locks the outside handle. Sometimes a lock is requested that the key can only be withdrawn when locked.

- With so many variables, it is important that you explain your desire to the locksmith to allow them to offer suitable solutions.

French/Double Doors

- Securing double doors requires making the inactive leaf (one door) to be closed and secured prior to the active leaf being able to be locked. There are many choices of product designed to secure the inactive leaf, like surface mounted bolts, flush mounted bolts etc.

Door Frame Protection

- Securing a door with a key lock is often only half the battle against would be unauthorized users. In many cases, the actual door frame and jamb (where the door closes into) are constructed from light grade, thin materials that offer very little to no protection from kicking or ramming.

- Securing the hinge side of a door is sometimes of value too. Installing hinge bolts can prevent a door from being removed when locked after having the loose pin in the hinges withdrawn.

Bump Resistant or Pick Resistant Key Locks

- The increasing discussion online about the truth behind the perceived security of key locking systems has led many well known manufacturers to attempt to offer products tailored to combat these known covert entry techniques. Truth be told, there are very few products that can be considered bump or pick proof or even resistant.

- Whether or not lock bumping or lock picking is a consideration for the average customer, depends sometimes on the statistics of crime, measured by statisticians. It is very difficult, even for a trained forensic investigator to determine if a key lock has been bumped or picked, with absolute accuracy.

- Many authorities, who measure the statistics of crime, often find that instances of lock bumping or lock picking are far too few to measure accurately. Moreover, crime statistics tend to indicate that entrances being defeated are often the result of door frame failure (kicked or pried open), windows smashed or pried or doors being left unlocked.

In most places your trained local locksmith is often the best person to consult about suitable options tailored to your individual needs or desires. Most often a locksmith that is affiliated with a known professional organization, has proven credentials supporting their training.

Weeding the professionals from the wannabe's is sometimes a difficult task. Choosing your professional is accompanied by risks, but often the best recommendations are those of your neighbor or friend. Checkable references/testimonials from third party online agencies are often considered a worthwile guide to helping you choose your preferred vendor.

UFO by Meroni Serrature - Explanation

We previously posted about the UFO by Meroni and have seen heightened interest in this sensational product.

But I think it is fundamentally important for interested consumers to be aware that this product is essentially a lockable escutcheon as opposed to a stand alone product for operating a door mechanism.

We are including an exploded view diagram that should help to provide a better understanding of the purpose of the UFO for entrance door applications.

Yes, there are other applications for this product including automotive and gate and solid glass door situations however, essentially with all these applications, the UFO is designed to be operated from one side and one side only.

For the purpose of a primary entrance, I highly advise against using this product because it will not meet the approved building code or life safety codes as measured by The International Building Code, for safety and egress in residential or commercial dwellings.

NOTE: If you intend to make the actual key entry to your location better protected, this product is sensational. But it will mean you will need to carry both the UFO key and the actual room entry key to gain access to your secure location.

Addalock

Addalock is a modern interpretation of a product that was originally designed a significant number of years ago, to effectively add a degree of personal protection for concerned consumers.

The product is designed to be applied simply and easily to any swinging door that uses an entrance type latch.

Simple to install and perfect for travellers to add that little increase that can prevent potential home invasions while you are there.

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Pennsylvania Is Not Immune To Locksmith Scam Companies Too

The State of Pennsylvania has recently filed a lawsuit against another company employing similar tactics to companies of similar ilk found all across the USA and some other countries as well.

It is unfortunate that authorities in this country are being found inept and incapable of enforcing protection for legitimate, qualified technicians and companies trained deliberately in the locksmithing profession or in their abilities to protect the consumer from these charlottans.

Cowbell - New Retro Door Bell Design

Dieter Volkers, a talented designer and inventor, has designed a unique product that is supposed to be a door knob.

I think it is probably more like a retro design door bell. It is made from a soft polymer material that has the feel and texture of a cows horn or other items found on a cow.

This product can be installed to any type of door and acts like a horn or door bell.

Yes it is a novelty product, but one where simplicity is employed to provide unique product thoughts that perhaps unusually minded consumers might take an interest in.

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Different Entry Techniques

I just now returned from opening a house for a client who was locked out.

I have worked as a locksmith for almost 30 years now and having picked opening very many locks in this time, sometimes I encounter a lock that just won't cooperate.

I always try to find another method of entry prior to drilling the keyhole, like impressioning (making a key from outside), loiding a latch from outside where possible or in a worst case scenario, prying a window.

Tonite, the front and back doors would not pick. I spent at least 30 minutes trying to pick the locks, with no success. Eventually I decided to use a method of entry, that very few locksmiths I know of, will try.

I simply wedged the garage roller door in the middle at the top, opening a 1.5 inch gap and using a long strong wire, simply tripped the emergency release cord, unlocking the door allowing it to be raised easily.

I have found that the greater majority of people tend to leave the door between the garage and the house unlocked.

Unlocking the garage door is usually a simple task as it was tonite. It is an effective method of entry that virtually guarantees against damage.

It does reinforce my advice to homeowners to always make sure to lock that door before leaving the house, as you can be sure, that if we locksmiths know these easy entry methods, you can be assured that people of ill intent, also know them.

Stocking Product

I had a very interesting discussion with a long serving locksmith in St Louis yesterday, about stocking lock products and other hardware.

He indicated that the amount of stock he was continuing to keep in inventory is continuing to decrease annually, due to many consumers sourcing their product online, often substantially cheaper than he can sell them for.

In many cases, I have been lucky to upsell clients to new product, when called to attend a service call. But the primary reason I was able to sell the products, was because I had it on hand at the time.

Stocking many different product lines is difficult to please everybody, due to significant warehousing and retail prices. Most, if not all of our inventory is available online in some regard, elsewhere. This makes it increasingly difficult to compete in the marketplace.

While, you can purchase products elsewhere (and sometimes at more competitive prices), should you?

Often, specialist retailers like locksmiths, can only sell products at list price or similar due to competitive margins. But purchasing from a small retailer like a locksmith, often you will receive better warranty and service conditions.

If quality is a requisite for you, I suggest shopping at your local locksmith might be the better option.

Wouldnt you agree?