Evidence of Picking - Forensic?

[maxxed]

what GM did was change the warding every few years,

GM repeated the codes every seven years

[grim]

1. For a professional, how long might an average pick job take? You see on TV (NCIS, etc) that it can be done in a matter of seconds, but is that just fiction?
2. Would it be silent to someone on the inside?
3. Would it leave evidence on the lock? Would the evidence be visible to the naked eye on the exterior, or is the lock dismantled and sent to a lab?

i'm sure that all of these questions have already been answered in one form or another, but i just want to add my 25 cents.

1
it really depends. i've had some locks pick so quickly that it actually startled me. others that should have been easy have slapped me around really good. it really breaks down to a few issues:

the picker's "hand". sometimes a specific person might have trouble whereas someone just as adept may have no trouble at all.

the tools being used. just as it's easier to repair an auto or build a home when you have the proper tools, it's typically easier to pick a lock with the right tools. however, if you don't have the necessary skills to build a house in the first place, then even the most expensive hammers and saws won't make up for your deficiencies.

the lock. some locks are just easier to pick than others. there are a number of factors that are best explained through mathematics, but i'll skip it for now and just say that some locks tend to be easier.

2
no. picking is never silent unless you're picking your lock with a cotton swab. (db -- care to try THAT one with cotton intact?) the cold hard facts are that you're "whacking metal against metal" and it's suspended in the middle of a large diaphragm (diaphragm = door) that can acoustically amplify the sound just like a drum head.

3
yes. i'd rather not go into specific details here, but each method of manipulation DOES "leave it's mark". quite often those pieces of evidence can point to the specific type of method used to manipulate the lock. and sometimes it can even point to the actual tool type as well. sometimes this evidence is external, sometimes internal and sometimes both.

for your sake, i hope this may have answered your questions, and for my sake, i hope i was sufficiently vague.

[raimundo]

for the guy writing a book, there could be some very perishable evidence, if someone came home and found the plug turned a little bit in the cylinder, when the plug is turned enough to allow the key to go in the lock will also audibly drop the pins, so the evidence could just be the story told by the first person to arrive.
If he knew he was going to pick the lock, and knew or had ever seen the key, (he could have seen the key in another city as the owner would have carried it around) this would identify the blank and he could make a bump key or he could have even made an impression of it into a stick of foil wrapped gum. the foil takes the impression nicely. with that, he could have made an actual key. A bump key is unlikely to attract attention on a keyring.

[gratefuldeadbolt]

Sounds like a good book...

Without knowing too much about these "criminals" the main character is after it is difficult to devise 'methods' of their ability to detect the fact that the lock has been manipulated.

Are these "criminals" paranoid enough and to be expecting an intrusion?
Are these "criminals" knowledgeable enough to know what to look for?
Are these "criminals" devious enough to spray some kind of epoxy over the entire lock knowing that when an attempt is made to pick / manipulate the lock the would be picker would likely touch the lock or surrounding material at some point disturbing this clever epoxy trap.... leaving signs of manipulation!

What floor is the apartment on? James bond might climb out a neighbors window...and over to the adjoining balcony! (NOT RECOMMENDED IN REAL LIFE!) - nor is picking another persons lock without permission. ESPECIALLY if they are criminals - they just might SHOOT YOU!