KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
There are about 35,000 Locksmiths in the US serving an average of 16,000 Americans each day that have locked themselves out of homes and cars. Locksmiths have come to play an important role in our society. We let them into our homes based on their skill and expertise. It takes a certain level of trust to bring a stranger unsupervised into one’s home to carry out repair work, especially, considering you are unaware of the real identity of the individual. It could be quite a risky venture considering how burglars and ex-convicts can easily pick up crafts without any form of ID verification. Getting professional, trustworthy, and reliable contractors is not always easy especially if there is no professional regulation.
The need for regulation of locksmiths is not just peculiar to Florida alone; the policy should be pursued nationwide as it could help ensure the safety of homeowners. Using the regulation, Florida’s Locksmiths can become a model for other states.
Locksmiths are some of the most in-demand servicemen and it is quite a misnomer for the profession to be free of regulation. Many Locksmiths are Franchise owners of local branches and supervised by the company they are associated with. One example in Florida is the Get-Locksmith with an Orlando branch and local Locksmiths working in different residential areas, but there are many Locksmiths that work without any supervision at all. The work of a locksmith can give unrestricted access to the properties of the homeowner and for anyone with a criminal past, this can be misconstrued as an invitation to pilfer and steal. Sometimes, the crime may even degenerate into assault, rape, or possible killing of the homeowner.
Locksmith Profession a Natural fit for Burglars
Burglars are a set of criminals that specialize in breaking into homes. When such criminals are released from prison, they may take to a locksmith as a profession. This may not be a big deal if they have been fully rehabilitated and have abandoned their previous criminal lifestyle. However, this may become a problem if they are still trapped in the illicit act of leeching off and robbing others of their belongings. Beyond robbery or looting the home, a burglar may decide to adopt a clever approach by forging a spare key to the home for him to come back, unaware, to perpetrate crime. While regulation may not necessarily prevent such actions, proper regulation will make the locksmith easily traceable.
Some have argued the involvement of a background check on contractors like Locksmiths may be misinterpreted as vilifying those with criminal past as being unfit for society even after the completion of their jail term or any other punitive measure meted out to them. However, this is not necessarily so. It is merely to ensure the safety of everyone. It is understood that Miami-Dade already has an arrangement for the issuance of a temporary county license for locksmiths, these measures shouldn’t be limited to the county but should rather be extended to other counties across the state.
The Need for a Regulation
The necessity of a regulation that will regulate the issuance of licenses to prospective and existing locksmiths in Florida is mainly a safety precaution to guard against crime. Locksmith is a profession that could offer a natural leeway into crime for any criminally minded individual and since ex-convicts have a preponderance to go back to their previous life of crime, it then becomes necessary to evolve a measure that will safeguard residents from harm or theft.
The need for regulation isn’t just about restricting ex-convicts from joining the profession; proper regulation will also optimize service delivery and ensure customer satisfaction is enhanced. The regulation will simplify the task of sanctioning members for unprofessional conduct capable of tarnishing the image of the association.
The issue of unprofessional and arbitrary charges by locksmiths, increasing the price after agreeing with the client is also an issue that can be rectified by regulation. Without regulation, the unscrupulous acts of few locksmiths can end up tarnishing the image of the hardworking ones among them. The formation of an association of locksmiths will enhance their public relations, giving the public the option of reaching out to them in case of professional misconduct and indiscipline of their members. It will also ensure proper regulation will ensure that locksmiths put on their best behavior as they could be easily sanctioned for any wrongdoing in the conduct of their job.
At some point, an average person will need the services of a locksmith and it is safer for a safety measure to be adopted to scrutinize locksmiths rather than just leaving the homeowners to the risk of robbery and theft which is a consequence of lack of proper regulation.
Author: Bright Elemeje
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The idea of “regulation” is flawed. Illinois is “regulated” (aka taxed. And also requires testing) but complaints to IDPFR (Il dept of professional and financial regulations) gets replies saying they don’t have money in their budget to handle and enforce the law! All about the fees paid with no teeth in the enforcement.
Maybe Florida can show other states how to do it correctly.
I will say there are a lot of snowbird locksmiths down there.
Thats all we need. A locksmith union like ALOA. Punish the good business people by lumping them in with all the scammers and internet providers that pile on like locus. Why not regulate them. Also don’t forget the number one rule in being a customer, “Let the buyer beware”, Teach personal responsibility. Why make the business that crosses all the “t”‘s and dots all the “i”s pay for the scammers the use the internet to mask how they take advanage of people. Don’t blame a industry for the failure people to do their due dilagance.
From what I’ve seen most of the scammers will take care of them selves, although their are more every day they don’t last long. I get them in my shop all the time, I try to teach them but they know nothing about business only how to take advatage of people. Licence and accountability maybe but don’t make us pay for unessarey fees and BS training when we would rather be out in the world taking care of our customers. Just my two cents
Your article makes a valid point but falls short of some other reasons that locksmith may have to become regulated. There are life safety codes, building codes, fire codes and also ADA codes that have to be complied with when securing a door. For the most part these code address concerns for improperly allowing free egress of an opening in case of an emergency and also the ingress of people with special needs. There are some very good locksmith associations in the state of Florida. You may want to work with them to educate the public on how to find a reputable professional locksmith even before the are in need of their services.
If you want to be regulated, get your county commission to pass a Dade County or Pinellas-Hillsborough locksmith regulation law. Leave the rest of us alone, please. I had a State Senator tell me in one of the last goarounds about this subject, that when two people come into your office and say they represent thousands of individuals, it’s time to question a little deeper. If they go on to say, “our folks want to be regulated by the state, it’s time to stop listening because you’re dealing with some really dumb people.”
I am regulated by the customer’s I service. I either meet their need for particular services, show up when I tell them I will, do the job that require to be done at a price we have agreed upon, arrive clean, not smelly and with a courteous, Christian attitude. If I do that, they’ll call me back. If I don’t, they won’t. Simple enough??
The only thing licensing does is provide income to the gov’t agency requiring it. Where I live we are licensed and there is no enforcement of violators. Law abiding locksmiths are forced to take classes that are not free, pay initial application, bonding insurance, and renewal fees. While non licensed scammers continue to work without any of those fees. And also a new applicant for a license must pass a test of knowledge which has a fee and I understand very few have passed that took it.
Myself I think regulation itself is a scam. How about a state or local registry, and to be on that you must 1st be able to pass a police check. Sorry but others never forced people to commit criminal acts. Second either some other locksmith’s provide reference or they have attended classes from ALOA, SAVTA Lockmasters or other legal security institute. As if you attend these of any length you are taught many life safety codes as well as how to do things. Myself if there was any doubt I often discussed with local fire type personnel including fire marshals as there are many conflicting requirements. I’m not a big fan of some tests, as some are extremely specialized. Licensing registry? maybe. Regulation is only about funds to government usually spent elsewhere