What is the Virginia DCJS ?

The Virginia DCJS is the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. The Mission Statement of the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services is to improve and promote public safety in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At Baldinos, our business is based on the protection of your property and safety of your loved ones. Our goal has and always will be to work closely with the Virginia DCJS in protecting the public from individuals claiming to be locksmiths who do not have the proper licenses to work in Virginia as a locksmith. Locksmith licensing has become necessary to prevent individuals with criminal backgrounds from working as locksmiths, and to prevent the use of fraudulent and deceptive marketing techniques which lead consumers into thinking they are calling a local, reputable locksmith company. There is a very high probability right now that a local search for a locksmith company will return many listings with unlicensed company names and phone numbers that forward to a call center that dispatches unqualified, unlicensed locksmiths.

Any Locksmith properly licensed in the State of Virginia is required to have in his or her possesion credentials clearly showing their photograph, their individual DCJS locksmith license number AND their company DCJS locksmith license number, including the locksmith company name and address for whom they work. You are well within your rights to ask for proof of proper licensing from any individual who is advertising as, or answers your call for locksmith services. The name of the company on the license should be the same company you called. It is not legal for any individual dispatched by a company claiming to be licensed, to have an individual at your home or place of business working as a locksmith without proper individual locksmith license issued by the Virginia DCJS. An individual who cannot provide proper DCJS license credentials when at your home or business as a locksmith is in violation of Section 9.1-140.1. An individual who is found to have provided false information, including the use of counterfeit credentials, or the DCJS locksmith license number of another individual, would also be in violation of Section 9.1-140.1. The individual should be charged under Section 9.1-140.1 for working as a locksmith without license by calling your local law enforcement agency. Do not accept alternate credentials. We have received many reports of individuals showing credentials claiming to be DCJS locksmith licenses, when in fact they were not licensed at all. These types of individuals are precisely the ones you should most be concerned with, as they are proving, with use of said fake credentials, that they are not willing to abide by the law, and represent a serious risk to your security and personal safety.

The General Assembly of the State of Virginia enacted Locksmith Legislation with the passing of The Virginia Locksmiths Act. The Virginia Locksmiths Act ammends existing laws of the State of Virginia by adding Section 9.1-140.1 to the Virginia Code, pertaining to the licensing of locksmiths. The Virginia DCJS is responsible for the proper licensing of locksmiths in Virginia and for enforcement of the laws concerning locksmiths in the State of Virginia. The problem of phony locksmith companies and their blatant disregard for the laws of the State of Virginia were the fundamental reason for the passing of this legislation. Many existing laws are being bent or broken by companies pretending to be locksmith companies in addition to the section relating to the Department of Criminal Justice Services. The Virginia DCJS requires licensing of locksmiths in the State of Virginia, and we encourage you to read this law to familiarize yourself with the requirements for obtaining a locksmith license in the State of Virginia.

Please be advised that we are working actively with the Virginia DCJS to eradicate phony locksmiths from the State of Virginia by reporting fraudulent, ficticious addresses used with listings for locksmiths in printed advertising and all over the internet. If you are a consumer of locksmith services and have been forced to pay an outrageous locksmith bill, you can help us help other consumers from being ripped off by illegitimate locksmith organizations by forwarding to us any and all information you have regarding any phony locksmith company and their deceptive marketing practices. Part of being your single source for all security needs is helping you to become better informed of the illegal methods used by phony locksmith companies to market themselves. The use of phony addresses that cause most users of a search engine like Google to see hundreds, even thousands of "local" locksmith listings is a violation of Virginia law. Any company advertising as a locksmith that dispatches an unlicensed locksmith to your premises is breaking this law and we encourage you to protect yourself and others by reporting them immediately to the Police as violators of Section 9.1-140.1 of the Virginia Code. You are not obligated to pay a trip charge or service fee to a company or its parent company advertising as a locksmith that dispatches someone without a locksmith license from the Virginia DCJS. The best way to stop these phony locksmiths from harming consumers is to refuse to pay, which ultimately forces them to go elsewhere or out of business completely.