During my locksmith career a minister once told me that if there were no sinners we may both be out of work. Another way of looking at our business is that locks keep honest people honest. When the very first locksmith opened for business, the reason for their existence was to offer products for the protection of life and property.
But the rules of the game have now changed. Thieves are driving stolen vehicles into store windows and staging smash-and-grab robberies. The best lock system in the world has no effect under those conditions.
Actions of the culprits who staged the Boston marathon bombing were not prevented by protective devices but they were identified later by detection devices. Whether it is an audit trail for access control systems or CCTV cameras watching foot traffic, the emphasis is now moving from prevention towards detection.
There may never be another event such as the terrorist action recently in San Bernadino. But events such as in Boston, San Bernadino or smash-and-grab attacks in Chicago will certainly cause the public to ask for solutions. They will ask what can be done to prevent, detect or deter similar assaults on society.
If the locksmith industry is going to continue to be a dominant force in the security field then we must begin offering products for both protection and detection. Locks, CCTV, metal detectors and even bollards may all be part of the future locksmith security strategy. We are living in a time when the public understands that every egregious act cannot be prevented but it can be detected so the perpetrators can be identified, apprehended and stopped from committing additional problems.
