Delaware To Update School And Institution Security Hardware Requirements To Overhauled Policy

Classroom Security has been becoming an alarming and increasing issue across North America in recent years, with the increasing numbers of armed intruders causing havoc to junior elementary (sub-primary), elementary (primary), junior high school and senior high school campuses, as well as a number of higher education colleges and universities.

Intruders, often bullied former students or disgruntled staff members, are fast becoming a major thorn to the security of our children while they are at school.

Delaware State House of Representatives, this week is currently debating and voting on a major policy change and update, aimed at increasing significantly, the security hardware and protocols at all the states schools, colleges and universities.

Many schools across the USA, already use quality door lock systems to secure doors, but many of the existing measures have been found wanting in recent times. This has caused much angst by parents and teachers, concerned with offering quality education to our children in safe, secure environments.

There are a great many products across the wider marketplace that already offer significant strength and security, but too few schools are bothering to spend the necessary investments to protect their faculty, staff and pupils.

There are many different brands of lock systems that provide increased strength and design, to better protect our children, including double cylinder lever entrance sets (called Classroom Locksets), including but not limited to Yale, Corbin, Schlage, Arrow, Assa, Abloy and many others.

Essentially, "a double cylinder classroom lockset functions like almost any other lever or knob entry set, except that it uses an internal keyed cylinder to enable the locking of the outside handle, while ensuring the inside handle remains unlocked and still easy to escape through, if required (maintaining life safety and International Building Code policies and rules)."

Some schools and institutions are spending millions of dollars to increase the security of their classrooms and entrances, but often they neglect to ensure that doors and windows include bullet resistant glass or resistant window films. Many seem to believe that the quality lockset and an alarm system will provide enough security to prevent an armed intruder from wreaking havoc through their schools.

Delaware are debating the inclusion of alarm systems, bullet proof accessories and double-keyed locksets.

In our 35+ years of locksmithery across the world, we have installed many locksets to school entrances and classrooms to increase the security of these doors.

In one case many years ago, one school decided to install double cylinder deadbolts to every door, as recommended by their security analyst and architect, before consulting with professional locksmiths, who are deliberately trained in physical hardware that complies with life safety, building codes, insurance requirements to protect would-be users of these rooms.
Our company was asked to install according to the plan and completed the request, against our better judgement, while warning the school officials that their desire was not legal. One week prior to the opening of the new school term, state and local inspectors came in to certify the school for opening, but when they saw the double cylinder locks fitted to all doors, they immediately failed the school because they did not comply with building and life safety codes.
Our company was once again called in to rectify the issues with new "approved" products that met or exceeded the codes, adding significant cost to the project. Our company worked overtime to complete the task prior to the school opening on time.

This reinforces the point that involving your local trained professional locksmith can and will augment your bottom line costs and save you considerable angst and compliance issues down the road.

There are many professional locksmith companies across North America, that provide trained professionals with field experience that are able to provide best-case-scenario advice, that will help any organization to increase their physical and electronic security measures, without breaking the bank.


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Columbia Missouri Police To Defer All Lock Out Calls To Locksmiths

A news article appeared December 30, 2017 in the local Columbia Missouri newspaper "The Missourian", explaining that Columbia Police Department have decided to refer all customers who call 911 and Boone County Joint Communications to an on-call locksmith.

The usual method to service a would be 911 caller is to provide police service attendance and then that officer usually calls a locksmith with the client in attendance.

The new directive will be to simply refer to a locksmith phone number.

The change in procedure is designed to better serve the interests of the community and the police service, by streamlining operations and saving time and money for arbitrary police calls where police can be better directed to more pressing police matters.

One certainly hopes that the police department becomes sure to send to a bonafide locksmith company and NOT the legions of fraudsters preying on innocent consumers with bait and switch pricing and massive over charging.

For Columbia's 250 or thereabouts lockout requests a year, this action will serve to save the city/county some money and a lot of time and inconvenience for both the customer and the city.

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Lockwood 303/355 Jemmy Proof Deadbolt Prevents Door Jamb Spreading - Thwarting One Of The Most Common Non-Destructive Door Bypass Techniques

The Lockwood 303/355 range of surface/rim mounted deadbolt locks offers a unique security product that effectively connects your door and frame together, preventing a common door bypass technique known as frame spreading.

You may have heard or seen an old product that has been around for many years known as the Segal Jimmy Proof Deadbolt.

The product has been loved for over a hundred years by many dwellers for its simplicity and its security.

The Jimmy Proof deadlock uses two pins that drop vertically through a two ringed strike plate, physically attaching the door to the frame/jamb. The lock usually holds to the door with 6 screws, 2 for the outer cylinder and four for the body of the deadlock.

The product pictured here is the Australian Lockwood 303/355 Claw Bolt Rim Deadlock, that uses 2 screws though the inside plate assembly to attach to the external key cylinder and a further 4 screws to attach the plate to the door. It also uses additional side mounted screws to attach the deadlock body to the internal plate.

The strike plate consists of a two part unit, with two hardened metal rings and a cover plate that are attached with 3 long screws anchoring the strike to the jamb. The separation of the two parts on the strike adds a laminating effect which further increases the strength of the application.

We also include an image of the Bilock Extreme Security Rim Cylinder, which can be used externally to provide 100% Bump Proof and virtually Pick Proof external keyed access.

The product is a highly sought after incredibly strong deadlock that increases your security tremendously. Not especially beautiful, but available in Satin Nickel or Mahogany Brown, if you dont mind having a large deadbolt on your door, you can rest assured that the security is second to none, worldwide.

Other manufacturers over the years have produced similar products, like Yale and Abloy. The Abloy SuperStopper version was a Black Steel Super-Hardened Body with Stainless Steel Turn Button and Stainless Steel Strike Plate. It was quite expensive and saw few sales in it's time before being discontinued. I have installed both the Lockwood version and the Abloy version during my career. I have also installed the Yale and the Segal a few times too.

If you use hinge pins to secure the hinge side of your door (which will prevent a would be intruder from pulling your door off by simply removing the hinge pins) and a Lockwood 303/355 Jemmy Proof Rim Deadlock, you can rest assured that your door will continue to be physically attached to the door jamb and will provide significantly increased security for your dwelling

Skybell - Inventor Of Smart Home Doorbell Technology Claims Rival Ring Stole Its Technology

Many consumers will be familiar with Ring.

The connected smart home doorbell product that attempted to win a sizeable investment when it debuted on Shark Tank a few years ago, since exploded on the scene with backing from multiple other investors.

Few perhaps fail to understand that the technology is based on patents belonging to another company.

Skybell claim to own 71 patents related to the very technology that Ring have allegedly copied and use in their range of products, severely curbing and hurting the ability of Skybell to be competitive in the market. The suit relates specifically to 3 patents that Ring are alleged to have copied, as a result of collaboration between managers of both companies during the initial research and development.

The start-up industry is indeed a murky environment, inhabited by many jealous players and sinister types who will do almost anything to beat out a competitor, but outright theft of intellectual property is a really dastardly thing to do.

We will be watching this story with interest as it unfolds.

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Kwikset Kevo Contemporary - New Advancement To Their Range Features "Touch Locking"

The Consumer Electronic Show is in full swing currently in Las Vegas and continues it's 50+ year history as a showcase for the future of electronic technology and products that "may" come to market in the next year or few.

Kwikset are no stranger to CES and continue this year to push the boundaries of technology advancement with the release of their new Contemporary Range of Kevo Connected Products.


Kwikset are one of the largest manufacturers of door hardware in the North American market and continue to provide builders and dwellers with a wide range of door hardware in varying styles, colors and configurations.

This Kevo product has been around a few years now and offers users a Bluetooth wireless experience to augment their "keyless" range of products.

I use the term "keyless" with care here, because Kwikset are not actually releasing non-keyed hardware (as that would defeat the reason they exist in the first place). They still offer their range of "Smart Key" cylinders across their vast range and continue to improve the strength of the cylinder product. As a veteran locksmith technician, having worked with Kwikset products over 35 years and worldwide, I am not a huge proponent of their range, but it is functional and competitively priced even though I think it is actually garbage.

There are many competing brands that are significantly better quality and competitively priced that can also be keyed alike with Kwikset keys, that are often more aesthetically pleasing, easier to operate, functional and last as long, if not longer.

Visiting your local locksmith to learn more about the other brands that offer competitive value to Kwikset, can be well worth your advantage.

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Vivint Smart Home Settles With ADT in Deceptive Sales Practises Lawsuit To The Tune Of $10 Million

Breaking News:

January 5, 2018

ADT - One of America's largest alarm and security companies announced last Thursday that they have settled with Vivint Smart Home an ongoing lawsuit over Vivint's use of deceptive sales practises.

Vivint Smart Home, which began life in 1999 as APX Alarm Systems in Utah has settled multiple lawsuits over the years in relation to deceptive sales tactics with Texas, Pennsylvania and Wyoming.

Vivint rebranded from APX and entered the residential home security market to offer customers "connected" lock and alarm systems in the burgeoning "Smart Home" market.

They make use of modern technology products including wireless door locks, alarm panels, camera's, door bells, thermostats etc to offer prospective clients a modern "connected" smart home.

Otto - Digital Door Lock Manufacturer Introduced In August 2017 - Closes Up Shop 5 Months Later

Breaking News: OTTO Closes Down.

Otto displayed their new entrant to the digital deadbolt market back in August 2017 with a great deal of hype.

The system purported to be a high quality top end system aimed at the residential home security market.

Promising features and high quality manufacturing priced the new product at the upper end of similar offerings.

The IoT (Internet of Things) industry has brought a great many new players into the market and industry in recent years and home security products purports to be a $20 Billion - $30 Billion dollar industry and constantly growing.

There are no end of new products coming to market to whet the appetites of consumers, each with varying product features and uses. WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, Deadbolts, Door Handles etc all vying for a piece of the pie.

But to corner a part of the market requires some capital and longevity in an industry that is truly dominated by few worldwide corporations that essentially own the market. Assa-Abloy is well known as the worldwide leader in manufacturing of access control, locking systems, hardware for commercial and residential entry systems. They have many competing companies under their umbrella and are well known as a builder of high quality products. They have the resources to continue to offer many of the leading and most desired products in the industry, across the planet..

Otto have become the latest startup to fall victim to a crowded market. They were just in the process of finalizing a corporate takeover of their company, when the buyer pulled out.
The ensuing damage damned the fate of this Silicon Valley startup, before they could get their product out to the market. They now have a warehouse full of product unable to be sold and are facing complete shut down.

Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock - Inventory Dwindling

Demand for this high quality product, the Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock is remaining sufficiently high and we are seeing increasing movement in inventory.

Our last shipment from late October is already half depleted and demand doesn't appear to be diminishing any time soon.

We envisaged a slight price increase around the start of 2018 and we still expect that to occur.

We are entering new arrangements on shipping services with USPS that may bring down the domestic shipping cost slightly, but we will maintain the ability to ship overnight with UPS or Fedex too.
If you dont mind waiting 10 days to get it by USPS, then that might be a cheaper shipping option for you.

With only 4 days left in 2018, we suggest would be fence sitters hurry to purchase before the January 1st price increase.

View the installation video and purchasing options in the source below.

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