In the United States and Canada various Locksmith organizations and businesses having been calling for regulations for training and criminal records checks for anyone in the Locksmith business. In British Columbia Canada Locksmiths are in theory regulated by the BC Government. Locksmiths in BC must have a minimum of two years working under the supervision of a Licensed Locksmith. After two years the Apprentice Locksmith can apply to the Industry Training Authority (ITA) to receive their “Trade Qualification” (TQ). Locksmith Businesses must have a Locksmith with a TQ, minimum 1 Million dollars liability insurance and a Locksmith Business license issued by the BC Government. All locksmith employees must have a “Locksmith Employee License” or a “Locksmith Employee License Under Supervision.” The Locksmith must be fingerprinted by the local police and a criminal records check is conducted by the BC Government before a Locksmith License is issued. The BC Government and the ITA have a list of regulations and requirements and the Government, in theory, can hand out heavy fines for non-compliance.
However, in BC we have no shortage of unlicensed locksmiths and the plague of the ‘Locksmith Scammers” operating across North America. Most of the Google paid ads (adsense) are the unlicensed locksmiths promoting to open your car or house for $15.00. I don’t know about you but I can not start my Locksmith Van and drive down the street for $15.00 (price of gas, insurance, car payments, repairs, etc.). The unlicensed and scammer locksmiths are operating in the open and in defiance of the locksmith regulations. BC has had locksmith licensing in place for over 25 years and appears to be losing the battle to regulate the Locksmith industry.
I support the BC Government trying to regulate the Locksmith Industry and the ITA finally has a workable Locksmith Apprentice training requirements. Between the two groups they have the ability, finally after 25 years, to have a positive impact on the Locksmith Industry. Also, the ITA training standards combined with Government Licensing and Criminal Records checks should be used as the standard for other States and Provinces trying to regulate Locksmiths, Apprentice Locksmiths and Locksmith Business.
However, any Province or State has to look at the failure to regulate or fine unlicensed Locksmiths and Locksmith companies. Legitimate Locksmith Companies pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars to comply with the regulations and compete with unlicensed, untrained and scammer companies every hour of the day. If enforcement or the Government rules and regulations is haphazard, inconsistent or non-existent then you will have the same situation in British Columbia, Canada nice looking and well drafted rules and regulations and nice well thought out Apprenticeship and training standards and little or no enforcement of these rules and regulations.
