Paula Davis Certified Forensic Locksmith

Paula Davis standing before her many awards in locksmithing.

By Laura Calverley

Ramona has its very own version of a CSI, but this crime scene investigator’s field of expertise is in locksmithing, not medicine. And the evidence she examines are locks and locking devices, not bodies and blood spatters.

Paula Davis, co-owner of White Locksmith on Main Street, recently completed training as a Certified Forensic Locksmith, making her the first female CFL in the country and possibly the world.

“I’m looking forward to getting into the work,” Davis said. “I really enjoy it.”

A forensic locksmith examines locks and security devices to determine whether a lock has been opened by something other than a working key. Usually hired by insurance companies, law enforcement agencies or law firms, a CFL may issue a report or give expert testimony in court.

Their tools of the trade include microscopes, cameras, lock picks and a computer, among other gadgets. The field is relatively new, extremely high-tech, and until now, almost exclusively male.

“It’s amazing what you can tell if you know what to look for,” Davis said. “Just because a door isn’t broken down doesn’t mean there was no forced entry. The lock may have been bypassed or manipulated in some other way. That’s what my job is: To find out what happened.”

Her specialty is in automobile arson and theft.

“Car theft is a big problem. What often happens is that someone leases a car and when it’s time to return it, they realize they have gone over the mileage limit and will need to pay heavy fees,” Davis said. “Instead of returning the car, they report it stolen or set it on fire.”

“The person could say that someone made a copy of his/her key and stole the car,” Davis added. “The keys for most new cars on the market contain chips, so you can’t just get a copy made. The copy needs to be programmed to work with the car’s internal computer.

The computer knows how many keys have been programmed and we have a machine that can be connected to the computer in your car that tells exactly how many keys it has authorized.”

Davis, a locksmith for 11 years, owns White Locksmith with her longtime friend, MaryAnn White. The women met while driving school buses. Davis,who graduated from Northwestern University, worked for the school district for 14 years.

“MaryAnn told me about a course she read about on locksmithing,” Davis said. “I took the course and it was fun. It interested me, so I decided to learn more.”

“In between runs for the school bus, I would come down to Rusty Miller’s locksmith shop in town just to learn. I worked there for four or five years for free.”

It took Davis three years to become a forensic locksmith. She completed more than 80 hours of training to become certified, traveling to Oregon, New Jersey and Maryland to take classes from the International Association of Investigative Locksmiths. Subjects ranged from basic metallurgy and materials to lock bypass techniques.

Davis was chosen over several other applicants to receive a scholarship for one of the classes. The classes are intense and the testing difficult, she said. The final certification process includes a three-hour written proficiency exam and a 1 1/2-hour oral exam. Any interested person must not only take all the required courses, but also apply and fulfill certain qualifications just to take the test.

“The verbal exam was tough,” Davis said. “You are asked questions about court testimony and procedure and crime-scene procedures, which are very strict. Part of the certification process also included creating a mock investigation and issuing a report.”

Davis’ investigational paper focused on gun locks. She is knowledgeable about guns, because her father used to own a gun shop in Ramona. Although the investigation was fictional, she discovered a very real way to bypass a trigger lock that is commonly used on handguns as well as rifles. Her paper received a high grade and soon will be published in a national trade publication.

There are only 63 Certified Forensic Locksmiths in the country, according to the National Association for Investigative Locksmiths. Davis could be called upon to travel anywhere in the United States to assist in various cases. Sometimes locks or ignition switches might be sent to her by mail for inspection.

When Davis earned her certification, she was presented with a tie-tack pin with “CFL” in a gold star within a circle, the symbol of the IAIL. The pin came with a little chain hanging from it, and she wears it on the lapel of her golf shirt. When she got it, she asked, “Is this a pin or a tie tack?”

“They only come in tie tacks,” she was told, likely because until now, only men became CFLs.

Now they’ll probably have to order some pins for women, too.

Photo by Darrel Kinney