Safe Cracking Consent?

[Oldfast]

Actually, I suppose this would apply to any lock opening - be it a safe, home, car, etc.

Prior to opening a safe for a customer - naturally, they must first provide proof of ownership in some way.
My question is what are the various means of validating ownership that you consider to be acceptable?

Thanks for any help. I'm curious about this.

[jharveee]

Pretty sure laws will vary state to state.
Should check with your local area locksmiths.
The business I work for has a locksmith license, I have a Registration card on file.
State issued photo ID.(Drivers license). Their Signature on our work order also has some more legal mumbo jumbo.
Maybe "The Locksmithing Lawyer" would be better suited to answer this question.

[dmasters]

Most of the time you only have the word of the customer, which is scary at times, but you have every right to walk off a job if anything seems "fishy". I personally have hopped in the car and drove off of residential rekeys when, through idle chatter with the client, they mention something to the effect of "I'm going through a divorce and this is to keep my wife/husband out". That's a big fat HELL NO, you don't want to get mixed up in that. Tell them to call you after it's final and you have proof of legal property. Another favorite was "Papaw died last week, and we need his safe opened." Again, NOPE. Not without a legal document stating the beneficiary. In these cases we would red-flag the addresses in our dispatch software, just in case, and would call the other shops in town to warn them.
On any and all property openings we had a simple form (very similar item linked below) that we would keep on file for 7 years. It's not bullet-proof, but it gives your lawyer something to work with in the event that someone cries foul.

http://www.aloa.org/pdf/possid.pdf

[mdc5150]

Dmasters said it pretty well. Sometimes you have to play detective. If they call up and say they need their safe opened because the electronic lock died, or the combo stopped working or something to that effect it takes a few questions to see that they had opened the safe on a regular basis, and since they are paying usually with a card or check and the safe is mounted there is nothing to throw up a red flag.

However we had someone come into our shop and wanted us to open a safe he brought in. We started asking some questions and it quickly became clear he was completely unfamiliar with it. Later he produced a receipt from the police department where he bought the safe on auction. But until then we told him no.

[Altashot]

Often the safe is in a house, the client is in the house and took the time to call you, wait for you and willing to pay the fee.
thieves don't call locksmiths. When something is shady, you get the feel for it.

when a customer brings a safe in the shop, we always tell them to leave it, we'll call when it's opened.
Thieves won't want to wait.

In addition, in my area, if you employ a locksmith for malicious purposes, the onus is on you to prove you didn't do anything wrong.
As the locksmith, I didn't do anything wrong, the client did. I only provide a service for which I get paid.

I recall a late night open up of a house I did years ago. A young man, maybe 15-16 years old locked himself out of the house.
Upon arrival, I checked his ID. It checked out, it was his address. He told me his parent were out of town. It was winter and pretty cold out. I let him in and he paid me the fee we had agreed upon.
A few days later, I received a call from an angry dad. "Are you the one who let my son John Smith in the house?" he said. "Yes I am" I answered.
"He was locked out, he provided ID and paid for my service" The dad explained that he and his wife were out of town for the week end and their son was spending a couple of days at a friends house as he was not allowed in the house alone.
He also told me that he and his friends had a party at the house, broke into the liquor cabinet, ripped the felt on the pool table, punched holes in the walls and vomited everywhere.....Made a fu*king mess of the house...
I told the dad that his boy was very happy I could come, otherwise, he would have slept in his car. I wouldn't be able to live with myself had I learned that the young man died of carbon monoxide poisoning or froze to death. I also explained that this was a parental issue and that one does not have to be of legal age to hire a locksmith.

Did I do anything wrong? NO.
Did he use me for malicious purposes? YES.
Did the father have a leg to stand on? NO.
Did he have legal recourse? NO.

He apologized for being quite rude to me and told me that he saw my point. He even thanked me for caring about the well being of his son.

Did anything come out of it? NO.
Would I do it again? YES.
Did the son get grounded? I HOPE SO.
Did he get a hang over? PROBABLY.
Do I care?........
....................NOPE.

I'm sorry this happened but I don't feel guilty about it.

M.

[Oldfast]

All really good info guys... certainly gives me some things to think about. VERY much appreciated.

@Altashot... In a way it's kinda comical. I mean, they trashed the hell outta the inside of the house,
yet hesitated to do any damage to get in. Seems like the kid could've saved himself some money.
Really, after all that havoc inside... might as well add a broken door or window to the festivities. lol

But in all seriousness, glad nothing bad happened from the whole thing.