http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080408TDY02306.htm The Yomiuri Shimbun April 8, 2008 Burglaries and thefts using lock-picking techniques have been virtually stamped out--down to just over 700 cases nationwide last year from a peak of nearly 30,000 in 2000. The method has become nonviable for theft rings--often foreign--which use special tools to prize open locks to burgle empty homes, since a lock-picking prevention law took effect in 2003 and the use of effective security locks became widespread after the number of such thefts began to soar in 1999. Some experts, however, believe thieves are now using another method that involves prizing windows open, ensuring that the National Police Agency has to keep its guard up. Lock-picking was originally a method used by specialist companies to open locks when residents lost keys, but theft rings from China and other countries began to adopt such methods. A number of lock cylinders and other items used for lock-picking practice have been found at gang hideouts. There were 29,211 reported cases of lock-picking thefts nationally in 2000, with about 11,000 such crimes committed in the Tokyo metropolitan area--more than one-third of the national total. The number of cases began to fall after that, with the national figure dropping to 708 last year--about one-fortieth of the peak annual total. Many apartments were burgled during the peak lock-picking years, but now such crimes are sporadic--with only 71 committed in the Tokyo metropolitan area last year. This dramatic drop is seen as a result of the government working closely with the private sector When a lock-picking prevention law took effect in September 2003, it became possible to arrest people for simply possessing specialist tools or screwdrivers without reasonable grounds. The new law led to the arrest of many gang members that the police had been searching for in residential areas. Lock-picking crimes also dropped by between 30 percent and 50 percent the year after the law came into force and the number of cases continued to drop at a similar rate in subsequent years. Keymakers also have developed better locks that are more difficult to pick. The majority of new apartments and houses built in recent years have been fitted with such locks, according to the Japan Lock Manufacturers Association, The Metropolitan Police Department established a dedicated crime squad to deal with these foreign theft rings in the capital, which had been struck particularly hard by lock-picking crimes. The MPD also got riot police officers on board and began carrying out thorough questionings of suspicious-looking foreigners hanging out around train stations and in residential areas, which led to the arrest of many foreigners living illegally in Japan. "Picking locks became a crime that didn't pay," a senior MPD officer said. This clampdown also helped cut the total number of burglaries nationwide in half from the 2002 figure of about 340,000 to about 170,000 last year. In January, the MPD arrested members of gangs from Colombia. They and other gangs used a method of prizing open windows of private homes with screwdrivers. Japanese thieves have long broken into homes in this way, and it is possible that Japanese may be instructing these foreign theft rings in the method. ___________________________________________________ Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org/mailman/listinfo/isn
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