Forcible Entry: Defeating a Swing Arm Security Latch

By JIM ALLEN

Fire departments across the country often face swing arm security latches on doors. This type of latch is very easy to overcome in a fire situation; it can be blown off the door by using conventional forcible entry techniques or with a hydraulic forcible entry tool. Normally, when using these techniques, the screws holding the latch into the door frame are pulled out, which damages the frame, or the latch snaps into pieces and is no longer usable. Many times, we are called on to assist at public service calls such as a lockout, a lock-in, lift assists, medical calls, and fire alarm activations with no visible sign of fire where there is no need to damage the door.

On occasion, when someone calls the fire department, he may also report the location of a spare key or—depending on the door—we can use a shove knife to open the door. Some people leave their door locked with the security latch and use the garage entrance door as their main entrance. Therefore, it is possible to go to a call with no one home and the latch engaged. Also, many hotels have these types of latches as secondary locks on their doors, so we will have to release them after the electronic lock has been unlatched or deactivated. So, let’s look at a quick tactic to release a swing arm security latch without destroying it.

Tactical Removal Steps

1. Open the door until the security latch engages.

(1) The swing arm security latch is commonly found on the inside of private residential and hotel room doors. (Photos by Stephanie Coker Allen.) Click to view video

2. Place the shove knife on the highest metal bar of the latch.

(2) Place the shove knife on the top bar of the latch. Ensure that it is not behind the hook attached to the inside face of the door, or it may not impact the latch itself.

3. Slowly pull the door until it is almost completely closed but not to the point where the door knob’s latch engages.

(3) Close the door to a position that will allow the latch to swing clear of the hook on the door but not to a point that will impede the forward movement of the shove knife.

4. Lightly strike the back of the shove knife. This will forcefully push the latch back and clear it off the hook to which it connects on the door.

(4) Lightly strike the back side of the shove knife; the latch should swing away. (Note: After you strike it, the shove knife may slide up or down; however, the latch has already been disengaged from the hook.)

5. The door should open freely.

(5) Once the latch has been disengaged, the door will open.

Fire departments using this technique have the opportunity to avoid damaging the door and reinforce the public’s support of us.

JIM ALLEN is a 10-year fire service veteran and a firefighter/emergency medical technician with Escambia County (FL) Fire Rescue (ECFR). He is assigned to Engine 3, a special operations company. Allen is a certified Florida fire instructor and teaches at the Midway Fire Academy. He has instructed in several of the ECFR’s firefighter training programs as well as the H.O.T. classes at several fire service conferences.