I had never heard of lock bumping until recently. Maybe that’s because I don’t watch much television. The nefarious practice of lock bumping was described and demonstrated on a local channel about a year ago. Previously unknown in Tucson, it has now become a minor nuisance.

Nuisance may be too mild a word for this method of picking locks. With any proficiency, your friendly neighborhood burglar can open your locks almost as fast as you can with a key and leave no evidence of his visit. It’s surprisingly easy. I learned about it on the Internet. And you know if it’s on the Internet, everyone who shouldn’t know about it will know about it.

I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised. If a medium like the Internet can be used to disseminate military secrets worldwide, there’s no chance of keeping the fine art of lock bumping quiet.

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Lock bumping involves using a specially cut key and bumping the lock in a certain way. The expectation is that the pins inside will line up momentarily during which time the burglar can turn the key and open the lock. The technique works on door locks and padlocks – any lock that uses a pin tumbler.

Of course lock bumping is not confined to burglars. It is disturbing to think anyone could enter your home while you sleep, almost as easily as if the doors were not locked. Surely such an entry would set off your alarm. If you have no alarm, then you are a sitting duck. It is the certainty that every business is alarmed that keeps the bumpers from cleaning out every commercial facility in town.

There is one other particularly frustrating problem for victims of lock bumping. Since this method of surreptitious entry leaves no marks on the door or the lock, it is very hard to prove a theft has occurred. You may not even know for some time yourself. But since most insurance policies do not cover “mysterious disappearance,” your losses probably will not be covered. If you have any items that are susceptible to quick grab-and-run jobs, you might want to schedule them on your policy against “all losses,” for a considerable additional premium.

No matter how much personal property insurance you have, unless you can prove a forced entry, you probably will have to bear losses of this kind yourself. You should resist the temptation to attack your door yourself to create an insurance claim. The authorities will not be amused.

There are some things you can do to render your locks bump-proof. According to John Hoyt at AAA Lock & Key, there is a relatively simple way to defeat lock bumping. It involves replacing one or more pins with specially designed pins that cannot be aligned with the shear line by bumping. This can be done for less than $10 per lock if you bring them to the shop, he says.

There’s good news for new home buyers, if there are any of them out there. Many of the major lock manufacturers are making all their locks bump-proof. Schlage and Quickset are two who do.

There are many other products that appear to have been rushed to market to catch the wave of fear among home- and business owners. Most of them are expensive and some of them don’t even work. There are locks with fancy keys that are not flat, some that have different kinds of irregularities. I found none that worked. Some new padlocks come with a shroud over the top which actually does nothing but looks impressive. They, too, can be bumped.

There are products you can spray into your locks which are supposed to make them bump-proof. Some just don’t work at all; others gum up the locks so you can’t get in either. They are usually expensive to take advantage of the increased demand. Products made to lubricate locks are cheap and effective. Never spray anything into your lock that isn’t designed for that purpose.

But the good news is there is no need to panic. Both Tucson Police and Pima County Sheriff report bumping has not become a problem here - that they know of. We could keep it that way by being aware of it and taking the simple countermeasures explained here. Probably the single most effective defense against bumping second only to fixing your locks is the alarm. These are becoming ubiquitous and should keep the bumpers at bay.

Contact Lionel Waxman at territorial@waxmanmedia.com or visit his website: www.newflashpoint.com.