One of the occupations that have broadened its scope in the business and social environment is Locksmith services. Since the very beginning of this profession, it has been observed its involvement in every single new product that appears in the market – beginning with locks, of course. Nowadays, there are several fields that a locksmith can specialized in; there are professional or companies that provide services in areas such as home locks, business locks, safes and cars locks. Depending on the area you are required help, you have to look in your local businesses listing where your problem fall into and get in touch with the right kind of locksmiths you need to solve with a particular situation or just give you a hand with it.

Recently, locksmithing has gotten involved into an area that would be very attractive to those people who like to investigate and get into the single detail to discover and find out the possible answers to solve a problem or any situation in particular. This new area of this ancient occupation is named Forensic Locksmith and it deals with examining systematically locks or any other security device or linked equipment by using the scientific method to find out whether the device was opened, neutralized, or bypassed

As it is stated above, this part of the crime investigation department is dealing with the detailed study of any lock or safety device in order to find out how it was broken or opened in any possible way. This brand new area of task related to the locksmith profession has been getting pretty popular nowadays, probably influenced by the media content of show containing procedural stories.
A forensic locksmith mixes the skill and knowledge of this occupation with the usual analysis and investigation methods used in investigating certain types of crimes; furthermore, this area of locksmithing takes advantage of the same tools crime investigators use to crack a case, such as microscopes, regular photography, physical dissembling of locks and security devices, and even in certain occasions the use of metallurgy and tool mark identification performed in a laboratory searching for clues that can lead to solve a particular crime or possible crime.

The main function of the forensic locksmith is not to determine who is the criminal behind the perpetrated act, but to offer a helping hand to investigation departments in police squads in order to establish how a criminal entered into a particular house or office and if force was involved into the process of breaking a lock from a residence, a business,
The work of this new occupation can be required to determine any of the next situations:
How the criminal entered in the place or unlock a safety device.
Which tools were used to entry into a house or office or open a safe.
And determine the weak zones of the affected area in the security device or place.
Furthermore, this brand new locksmith specialization is used not only to determine evidence for a perpetrated crime; nowadays, many big companies or institutions are using the service of a forensic locksmith to establish and analyze the levels of security provided by the locks found in the premises of the business or organization. They are also requested to examine and provide information about safe locksmithing.

How can you turn into a Certified Forensic Locksmith?

In order to become a professional forensic locksmith, there is certain knowledge that you have to have before taking the right steps to be part of this new and fascinating occupation. Among the things you need to know, there are the following:

• A great deal of knowledge about locks, safes, and security systems.
• A good basic information of crime scene investigation
• Be very good at photography
• Experience in collecting and preserving evidence.
• A proper verbal communication skill with expertise in dealing with witnesses.
• Also right written communication ability for those moments of redacting investigative reports.

If these points are totally fulfilled, then you can turn to the International Association of Investigative Locksmiths (IAIL) chapter of your locality. This agency has been involved into the development of such occupation as they promote the needed collaboration between locksmiths and police departments and officers. It is in charge of providing the right guideline into the obtaining a classification as Certified Forensic Locksmith; certification only provided by the IAIL.

Requirements needed to become a Forensic Locksmith?

In order to be a certified forensic locksmith, you need to fulfill the following points:

• You have to be a member of IAIL during, at least, a year.
• In order to get this certification, you have to obtain 75 points in a test that will deal with several subjects in the area such as simplex manipulation, Professional By-Pass techniques, safe opening, etc. These topics and some others related to the area can be part of the points needed in obtaining the certification and they can be takes as classes in several institutions dedicated to this field.
• After getting the 75 points, a 125-question test with a 3 hour lasting time has to be taken and passed. This exam is based on forensic locksmith and the Standards for a Forensic Locksmith and it can be bought from the IAIL office closest to you or via internet.

Nowadays, these occupation is merely taken by men – as all of the other fields of locksmithing where only a 12 % are women nowadays; but it does not mean that Forensic Locksmithing is limited exclusively to males, anyone – man or woman – with the right locksmith tools and a disposition to get all the necessary knowledge about crime scene investigation can go through all the steps required to get into this brand new and exciting new area of an old occupation which has been evolving into fields that have been developed with the advance of technology during the last decades all over the world.

If you are interested in being part of this new profession, now it is the time to do it. Do not hesitate and be ready to become a Forensic Locksmith; you will not regret it way ahead in time.