Forensic Lock Disassembly

I set about solving a mystery that someone sent my way. In the process, I figured I'd show you all what an official forensic locksmithing disassembly of a cylinder can look like. Enjoy!

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[mattfleming]

When are you going to do the counter-forensics class? The arms race must chooch on!

[Codex_of_Wisdom]

To be fair with the plastic, ~80% of the plastics in the ocean are fishing nets from offshore fishing companies. So a few bags is nothing compared to that.

[RocketCityGardener]

What about orientation of the key pins? Is it obvious looking at the pin close-up or under a microscope?

[DarkArtsLockPicking]

A favourite method of locksmiths is rear shimming like that with the use of a blank.

[curtishoffmann]

Forensics: "It's dead, Jim!"
Kirk: "I noticed that part, Bones. What killed it?"
Forensics: "Damn it, Jim, I'm a paid actor, not a coroner!"

[matthewellisor]

Ugggh, I had a job that demanded every piece of evidence be individually placed in a gallon-sized bag (as if my testimony was insufficient.)
One item was the broken oak door and they decided to tape an evidence bag to the face of it!

[OneNvrKnoz]

I’d love to see a video showing the difference between usual wear of pins versus what wear looks like on an attacked lock. Does bumping look different than SPP?

[idkidk]

Lol the mess of bags if it was a heavily mastered Schlage primus system and multiple cylinders are being investigated. around 45 bags/cylinder

[erikhaw]

Can't wait to see part 2, at my work, we mostly use manilla envelopes, or make little bundles, but there is a rule, evidence preservation is of key importance.

[ChristopherHallett]

You're halfway there? Whoa-oh, livin' on a prayer!

[MedusalObligation]

There are parchment paper bags that could be used if you were actually worried about plastic. We use them for watch parts, hand tied flies and miniature screws.

[joblessalex]

I wanna see part 2. Also include the one pin cylinder that way we can see if he picked the first one. Lol

[lollubrick]

THE LIPSTICK TOOL HAS A METAL CHAIN ON IT!!! METAL!!! LAWYERS!!!

[lostboytnt]

Query: Would the shim potentially, or actually leave a mark on the pins as well, since they're metal sliding along an edge?
Obviously this would only be in the case where the actual key wasn't used instead. Would that have to be forensically noted as well?

[JohnTruempy]

As your last instructor in this topic I did see 3 mistakes that could bite you on cross and 1 that could get you a Daubert challenge. But for the most part good job.

[ThomasGabrielsen]

I really looking forward to the second part. I wasn't aware that you took on this type of assignment and I have never seen it before.

[alaricsnellpym]

A label printer hooked up to a computer so you enter job details once, and just describe each bag to print the label, would save a whole lot of time. Especially if it put a QR code with a unique serial number plus the same data on every sticker, and spat out a CSV file with a record per label with all the data and the serial number for integration with evidence cataloguing software...

[foogod]

The plastic use is unfortunate, but it's worth keeping in mind that compared to so many many other parts of our lives, the amount of materials actually used every day on this sort of thing seem large in the moment, but are really pretty small in the big picture of things. Forensic evidence bags are really not producing the vast majority of the plastic waste in the world today, and considering that it can sometimes mean the difference between letting a guilty person go free, or ruining an innocent person's life forever, some things are arguably worth the cost in the end.

The medical industry is the same way (and in far higher volume). So many medical things are single-use plastic, and produce tons and tons of (usually not even recyclable) waste. The problem is, though, that when you're dealing with people's health/lives, and infectious diseases, etc, sometimes there just isn't any other way to do things that is actually going to produce the necessary level of safety and results, and the quality of those results really do matter. So you just have to suck it up and do it the "wasteful" way anyway (and just do your best not to not make it any worse than it really has to be).

[OaklynHall]

Thank you for sharing this interesting and educational video. If "metal" should not be used in the disassembly process should the "shim" used during the disassembly of the lock be made of plastic too? If this was a real crime investigation surely the forensic analyst would/could have access to a real key that actually opens the lock so there would be no need to use a shim? How about using a very small fibre optic probe to examine/photograph the inside of the lock before even attempting disassembly to check to see if the pins have been marked through picking?

[TheColonelSponsz]

One of the classic differences between professionals and amateurs on display here: pros spend a lot of time on doing basic things to a repeatably high standard.