Do Burglars Actually Pick Locks? The Truth Might Surprise You

I get asked this a lot — sometimes at a job site, sometimes from a neighbor leaning over a fence on a quiet evening near Mill Avenue. And honestly, when most people picture a break-in, they imagine someone crouched at a door with a set of picks, like a scene from a spy movie. The reality of Do Most Burglars Pick Locks or Kick Doors is a lot less cinematic — and a lot more useful to know if you want to actually protect your home in Tempe, AZ.

How Burglars Really Enter Homes

Study after study — including data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics on residential burglary — shows the same pattern: most break-ins are fast, loud, and brutally simple. Pick-resistant deadbolts are rarely the obstacle burglars even bother to test.

Here’s what’s actually happening out there:

• Kicking the door in. A single hard kick near the knob defeats most standard entry doors in seconds. The door itself may be solid — but the frame, the strike plate, or the screws holding it together often aren’t.
• Breaking a window or sliding door. Glass costs nothing to smash. If your sliding door isn’t properly secured, it can sometimes be lifted right off its track. We wrote about this in detail — worth a read on how to secure a sliding glass door a burglar can’t just lift off.
• Walking through an unlocked door or garage. Uncomfortable truth — a significant portion of entries require zero tools at all.
• Lock snapping. This one surprises people. Certain European-style cylinder locks can be physically snapped in half with a pair of pliers or a screwdriver, exposing the mechanism and allowing the door to open freely. It’s not common on standard US hardware, but it’s worth knowing about if you have any imported or older cylinder locks.

So What Is Lock Picking — and Does It Happen?

Lock picking is a real skill. As a locksmith who’s spent a decade understanding how locks work from the inside out, I can tell you it takes practice, the right tools, and time — often several quiet, uninterrupted minutes even on a basic pin tumbler lock. Burglars don’t have time to spare. They want in and out before anyone notices. Real lock picking, in the context of residential burglary, is genuinely rare.

The average break-in takes under 60 seconds. Lock picking takes longer than that. Burglars aren’t picking your locks — they’re exploiting the weakest physical point they can find, fast.

What does happen occasionally is bump keying — a modified key struck with force to momentarily jostle pins into alignment. It’s faster than traditional picking, though modern bump-resistant locks have largely closed that gap.

What This Means for Your Home in Tempe, AZ

If you’re in Tempe, AZ — whether you’re near the Arizona State University area, off Apache Boulevard, or in one of the established neighborhoods closer to Tempe Town Lake — the practical takeaway is straightforward: upgrading your locks alone isn’t enough if your door frame is weak or your strike plate is held in by half-inch screws.

Here’s where to focus your energy:

1. Reinforce the door frame and strike plate with 3-inch screws that reach the stud behind the frame — this single upgrade dramatically increases kick resistance.
2. Install a quality deadbolt rated ANSI Grade 1 on every exterior door. If you’re not sure what holds up best, our breakdown of the best locks for a steel entry door walks through the options honestly.
3. Consider restricted keys if you’ve recently had a tenant move out, ended a relationship, or had any change in who had access. A restricted key system means unauthorized copies simply can’t be made. Read more about how restricted keys stop unauthorized copies.
4. Rekey promptly after any access change. It’s fast, affordable, and removes all doubt about who holds a working key.

If someone has already tried to get in, don’t wait. Check out the steps to take right after someone tries to break into your home — there’s a clear order of operations that makes a real difference.

Security, like a lot of things in life, works best when it’s layered — not just one strong lock, but a door that can take a hit, a key system that can’t be copied, and the awareness to close obvious gaps before someone else finds them. That’s the mindset I bring to every call, and it’s the standard the team at Sundial Locksmith holds itself to every day across Tempe, AZ and AZ.

If you want a straight answer about where your home’s vulnerabilities actually are — or you’re ready to upgrade your hardware, rekey after a life change, or just get a spare cut before you need it — call Sundial Locksmith at (480) 525-7778. We’ll give you honest guidance and get it done right the first time.

Some content on this site is AI-assisted and may not reflect exact current details — please verify with Sundial Locksmith at (480) 525-7778. Learn more.