The hardware lesson in public burglary research is consistent even when year-to-year city totals move: a large share of residential entries involve unlocked or weakly secured doors, and a locked, well-anchored deadbolt is still the first mechanical control. Read the named government sources for current counts. Do not treat a vendor “smart locks cut crime by X percent” graphic as data.
Swift Key San Diego is a referral service. Independent locksmiths quote hardware. Call (858) 400-4082.
How to read the sources
FBI Crime Data Explorer (cde.ucr.cjis.gov) compiles agency reports. It lags, and unreported events never appear.
NCVS (Bureau of Justice Statistics) surveys households, so it catches some unreported crime, with weaker city samples.
For local pictures use the San Diego Police Department annual crime publications on sandiego.gov and the California DOJ Open Justice portal (openjustice.doj.ca.gov). The County Sheriff covers unincorporated areas including Ramona, Alpine, Julian, and the backcountry. SANDAG’s criminal-justice bulletins compile multi-city region tables.
Pull the latest PDF or dashboard yourself. Figures on this page are not a substitute for those files. Average dollar-loss claims and year-specific percentages go stale and get copied wrong. Check the source, then decide.
What the research literature keeps repeating
BJS household-burglary work (see Victimization During Household Burglary and later BJS property-crime pages) has long split entries into forcible, unlawful without force, and attempts. Unlawful entry without force is the unlocked-door problem. Forcible entry is often a door that gave up.
Door-versus-window shares you see on insurance blogs are often secondary mash-ups, not a single FBI table. Treat them as orientation, then look at your own openings: which doors a kick can reach, which first-floor windows sit out of sight.
Practical readout: lock the door. Then make the door harder to kick. Lights and cameras help as deterrents. They do not replace a bolt that actually throws into framing.
San Diego geography without fake neighborhood ranks
SDPD city totals do not give a clean per-capita residential burglary table for every neighborhood. County cities do not move in lockstep. A hardware walk at the address beats a headline.
Places where key control is sloppy get extra attention:
- High-turnover rentals that never rekey
- Houses next to freeway on-ramps
- Short-term rentals whose vacancy is visible on a calendar
Hardware that maps to those entry patterns
Lock the doors. Unlocked is the free miss. Auto-lock on a smart lock is a habit tool if the mechanical bolt still throws. See smart lock installation.
Strike plate into framing. Short screws in trim fail on a kick. Longer screws into the stud are the usual upgrade. A locksmith should do this when they install a deadbolt, as part of their job, not as a Swift Key add-on.
A graded deadbolt on exterior doors. Builder-grade hardware is the weak default. Grade 2 is the common residential step up. Grade 1 is the heavier commercial-style listing. Definitions live in ANSI/BHMA documents. Install quality still decides whether the bolt seats. More: how to choose a Grade 1 deadbolt.
Rekey after move-in. Builders, agents, and prior occupants may still have keys. That is key control, not a California statute that forces a turnover rekey. Lock rekey. Civil Code 1941.3 is operable locks, not a rekey mandate. 1940.5 is waterbeds.
Windows. Pins or sensors on the openings a person could actually use, not every pane.
Visible cameras or a doorbell camera. Deterrent layer. Not a physical barrier.
A walkthrough is a locksmith visit you pay for. The locksmith calculator is a self-check list, not a free on-site audit from Swift Key.
Rentals and short stays
Key control is the risk. Rotating codes on a smart lock only works if you delete the last guest. Long-term tenants: lease and lawyer, not a blog “California requires rekey” line. Short stays: codes that expire, Grade-appropriate hardware on every exterior door, strikes that hold.
What the data will not tell you
Under-reporting. Determined attackers versus opportunists. Neighborhood variance. Neighbors who notice a stranger still matter more than lock grade.
Sources to open
- FBI Crime Data Explorer
- California DOJ Open Justice
- SDPD annual crime reports
- SANDAG criminal-justice bulletins
- BJS household burglary publications
- NIJ property-crime pages
- ANSI/BHMA lock-grade standards
Frequently asked questions
Is San Diego high-crime for residential burglary?
Open the latest SDPD report and the DOJ portal. City and statewide series have moved down in recent published years, with city-to-city variance in the county. Do not freeze a 2023 percentage as 2026 truth without checking.
Did pandemic-era drops reverse?
Check the newest FBI CDE and DOJ files. This page does not project a trend.
Does an alarm lower insurance?
Ask the carrier. Discounts are policy terms, not a network-wide percent.
What should I do first after moving in?
Lock everything. Rekey exteriors you control. Long screws in strikes. Confirm every bolt throws. Then cameras if you want a visible layer.
Is Grade 1 required?
No. Grade 2 plus a real strike is the usual residential jump from builder-grade. Grade 1 is for higher-risk doors or preference.
For a referral to inspect doors you already have authority to change, call (858) 400-4082.