How Do I Secure My Business Door From Break-Ins?

Start with the door nobody watches. At most stores, offices and workshops that is the back or side door off an alley or a parking lot. Close the gap at the latch, fasten the strike into the frame, protect the hinges, put a real deadbolt on it, and keep the cash and the most valuable stock in a safe. A locksmith can do most of that in one visit, and the door still has to open from the inside so nobody is trapped in a fire.

Two break-ins in Metro Detroit this October show both sides of it. On October 16, Detroit police were called to a business on Gratiot near Eastern Market, where a door had been forced open, and the owner estimated about 300 items were taken. Days earlier, early on a Monday morning, thieves backed a car through the front door of a jewelry store on Van Dyke in Shelby Township and were gone in under six minutes. The store said its vaults were not touched, because its most valuable pieces and its customer orders were locked in safes.

A lock will not stop a car through a storefront. That takes bollards or heavy planters, which is work for a contractor. A forced door is different. It is exactly what a locksmith fixes, and a safe is what kept the Shelby Township store's best stock in place.

Where a Business Door Gives Way

Most thieves do not pick a commercial lock. They pry, kick or pull. A pry bar goes into the gap between the door and the frame and pushes the latch back. A hard kick splits the frame at the strike. Many back doors swing out, because exit doors often have to open in the direction people leave, and that puts the hinge pins on the outside. A door with only a knob lock can sometimes be slipped with a flat tool.

Five Fixes for the Back Door

• Add a latch guard. A steel plate bolted over the edge of the door, where the latch meets the frame, keeps a pry bar out of the gap. On a door that swings out, it is one of the simplest upgrades there is.
• Use a real deadbolt. A deadbolt with a full one-inch throw, or a mortise lock, holds far better than a knob lock. On a glass storefront door, the narrow-stile lock and its hook bolt need to throw all the way into the frame every time.
• Fasten the strike into the frame. Long screws through the strike plate into the framing, or a reinforced strike, keep a kick from splitting the frame. A hollow metal frame can take a frame reinforcer that does the same job.
• Protect the hinges. If the hinge pins are on the outside, security hinges or hinge studs keep the door in the frame even if someone cuts or drives out the pins.
• Keep the exit legal. A door people use to leave the building cannot be chained or padlocked shut while anyone is inside. Ask before adding a bar or an extra lock to an exit door. Our guide to storefront panic bars and Michigan fire codes explains what is allowed.

Keys, Codes and the Safe

• Know who has a key. Former staff, a cleaning crew, the last tenant. If you cannot account for every copy, rekeying the locks makes the old keys stop working. A master key system lets each person open only the doors they need.
• Change codes when people leave. A keypad code that a former employee still knows works like a key you cannot take back. With access control, each person gets their own credential, and you can turn one off without changing anyone else's.
• Put the cash and the best stock in a safe. In Shelby Township, the safes held while the showroom was emptied. A commercial safe that is bolted down and locked every night keeps what matters most out of a smash-and-grab.
• Light the back door. A light over the rear door and a camera that can see it take away the dark corner an alley gives a thief, especially once the clocks fall back on November 1.

When to Call a Locksmith

Call us if your back door has only a knob lock, if a deadbolt does not throw all the way, if the frame or strike shows pry marks, if you want a latch guard or security hinges, or if staff changes mean the locks should be rekeyed. We are a commercial locksmith working with businesses across Detroit, Dearborn, Royal Oak, Troy, Warren, Southfield and Shelby Township. If your business has been broken into, call the police first, then call us to secure the door.