Forcible Entry: New Version of an old lock

This past weekend I was staying out-of-town in a hotel for the running of the Crawling Crab Half Marathon. While leaving to go to dinner I noticed the locking mechanism on the door was a little different than I had seen in the past.

Typically on a hotel door you will see what I call either the slide chain lock, or the slide bar lock

 

 

Both of those are pretty common with the bar being the one I have seen the majority of, however the locking mechanism on this door functioned in a similar way but was different.

 shown in the unlocked position

 shown in the lock position

 Another view of the locked position with the door engaged and the lock fully engaged on the door

 View from the outside with the lock engaged and the door against the lock

As you can see the function of this lock is the block the door from opening up fully like its predecessors. The other versions usually gave us a good look at the actual mechanism parts. Alto of times when faced with the older lock placing the fork end of the halligan on the chain or the bar and several quick axe strikes would either drive the locking mechanism off the door, or break the chain or bar, either way you were in. However this version takes that option away from us.

You still could possibly be able to use the fork or adze end of the halligan right against the lock and drive the lock off of the jamb (overcoming the screws holding it to the jamb). Another option is also to go with good old conventional forcible entry close to the lock and defeat the lock. The hydra ram is also an option but as always the hydra ram can fail, or if it doesn’t work we have to go back to the irons so ALWAYS bring the irons.

Those are just a few ideas I had. What are you thinking? Leave your ideas in the comments section, or share them on twitter @averagejakeff

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!