‘Glorified Coke cans’: How to beat silent, 5-second house break hack

Crims exploiting a flaw with common door locks are contributing to skyrocketing unlawful entry offences. How to beat the crooks using a $30 antitheft device.

CRIMS exploiting a design flaw with commonly installed door locks are contributing to skyrocketing unlawful entry offences across Cairns as word spreads of a concerning security vulnerability.

It takes less than five seconds for house breakers armed with a pair of vice grips to force a popular spherical-shaped door knob design and gain access in what is known in the locksmith industry as crunching.

Portsmith based locksmith Simon Hubbard said his firm TCL Security and Locksmiths had been overwhelmed by homeowners every morning inquiring about replacement entry sets after being broken into the previous night.

Managing director of TCL Security & Locksmiths, Simon Hubbard with samples of the crunched door locks his firm has been called upon to replace. Picture Emily Barker

“It’s a product that if forced, it’s going to fail,” he said.

“We are booked on top of booked, at the moment we are doing five to 10 jobs a day.

“We are seeing more and more locks getting wrenched every day.”

The TCL Security and Locksmiths managing director explained thieves get a tight hold on the door knob with any kind of multi-grip tool and twist it until the locking pin mechanism fails and the door opens.

He strongly suggested the use of deadlocks in houses and dead latches in apartment blocks to meet fire exit standards or a cheaper fix was the use of a lock spinner.

Damaged front door entry sets that have been crunched by thieves using multi grips. Picture Emily Barker

“It goes over the knob set and it spins around and around and stops people from grabbing on to it,” he said.

Door knob crunching is not a new break and enter technique but it has become the preferred method of Cairns offenders looking for a quiet and quick way to enter a property undetected.

Wary of revealing any information that may increase offending rates Senior Constable Martin Shephard said police were aware of the illegal entry technique.

“Have a look at your door and if you believe that the locks are not substantial you can look at installing dead bolts on your doors for extra security,” he said.

Commenting on the weakness of some locks an industry insider described cheaply made knob sets as “glorified Coke cans.”

Network Car Rentals had six vehicles stolen in one night in May this year after youths broke through a window of the Westcourt business and stole the keys to the hire cars. Peter Ryan of Capital Glass and Aluminium measures up a new glass panel to fix the damage caused by the juveniles. Picture: Brendan Radke

Cairns lock specialist Mr Hubbard said an emerging trend was the bulk targeting of apartment towers.

“They just run through apartments and just go boom, boom, boom, breaking into units,” he said.

Mr Hubbard said fire exit legislation in apartment blocks meant doors had to be self-latching to stop residents entering a burning building.

“When all high rises and all the apartments went up 20-years ago, they just put offset locks on because it’s the cheapest thing,” he said.

“When the doors are self-latching, there’s only a couple of locks that you can use.

“They exploit that vulnerable product. It’s been happening for years down south but just now the youth up here have found out about it.

“And obviously the number one thing is to lock your doors.

“They steal the keys and drive away.

“We’re getting between five to eight stolen cars a day and re-keying and reprogramming those cars as well,” he said.

A door spinner antitheft device is a simple fix and retails for about $30, Mr Hubbard said.

Originally published as ‘Glorified Coke cans’: How to beat silent, 5-second house break hack