After a break-in — locks, in the right order

Call the police and let them document the scene before any repair happens — including the broken door. Photograph everything yourself: the damaged frame, the tool marks, the window, from several angles. Your insurer will want the police report number and those photos, and a repair that happens before documentation exists is a repair you may end up arguing about.

Then call the insurer's claim line, because some policies cover emergency securing work and the locksmith visit itself. Knowing that before the work happens is worth one phone call.

Tonight's job is making the house securable, not making it perfect. A kicked-in door usually fails at the frame — the strike screws tear out of the jamb — while the lock itself survives. Emergency securing means getting a door that closes and locks, sometimes with temporary hardware or a board-up, so you can sleep behind a locked door.

This week's job is the real repair: the frame properly rebuilt, hardware replaced where it actually failed, and — this is the part people skip — every lock rekeyed. If keys were taken, that is obvious. But even when they were not, a burglar had time alone with your locks and your spare-key drawer, and the only safe assumption is that key control is gone.

How they got in is a free security audit. Through the frame: the fix is structural — a reinforced strike with three-inch screws into the stud, not a better cylinder. Through glass beside the door: a double-cylinder deadbolt question, with the real fire-safety tradeoffs that deserve an honest conversation rather than a reflex. Through an unlocked door or window: the fix is habit and maybe a lock that locks itself. Through the bulkhead or garage: the forgotten doors need to be brought up to the standard of the front one.

Upgrading the thing that did not fail while leaving the thing that did is the most common post-break-in mistake, and it is usually sold, not chosen.

Once the adrenaline settles: change any codes the intruder could have seen — garage keypad, alarm, smart lock. Check what the spare-key situation was and rebuild it deliberately (a neighbor or a mounted key safe, not the flowerpot). If the house has been rekeyed, distribute new keys with a little intention this time — a list of who holds one is the cheapest security tool that exists.

A walkthrough with someone who does residential security work daily after a break-in is short money for what it catches, but be wary of anyone who arrives quoting a full-house hardware replacement before asking how the entry actually happened.