Inola Family Invents Lock System To Stop Trailer Thieves

Law enforcement says trailer thefts are a growing problem in Oklahoma, and in some cases, it can take a thief only 30 seconds to steal a trailer with a lock on it.

One family in Inola says their invention can help keep trailers safe.

They say the system is designed to stop thieves at every step of their process, and possibly stump them long enough so that they run away.

Fred Davis says he saw lots of customers coming back to his store to buy new trailers because theirs kept getting stolen.

When he saw families who lost everything to trailer thieves, he decided to come up with a way to stop thieves in their tracks.

"I woke up at two o'clock in the morning and the good lord told me to hide my lock, and hide my hinge," said Davis. "And he gave me every step of the entire Trailer Jailer and I was able to get everything pieced together."

The Trailer Jailer is designed to hide the lock to make it hard to break.

There are also bars on the side and the bottom to stop a car from driving close enough to hook the trailer up.

Law enforcement says the harder the trailer is to steal, the less of a chance the thief will take on it.

"Thieves are opportunists, they look for the easy way out," said Scott Walton with the Rogers County Sheriff's Office. "A cheesy, lightweight lock is not a challenge for any of them."

The Davis family has spent seven years adjusting their Trailer Jailer based on advice they've received from customers on how their trailers get stolen.

Dillan Davis says it means a lot to him that he gets to work on the project with his family.

"Seeing how important it is for my dad to help other people," said Davis. "When somebody gets a trailer stolen, normally, their entire livelihood is dependent on that trailer."

Fred says he wants people to see that it's important to keep trailers secure because not only does it help you keep your items safe, it helps police officers do their jobs too.

"We have to do our due diligence because they don't have time to come out and help us with our trailers," said Davis. "They don't have time to do that, so we have to protect our own stuff."

The Davis family says they will continue to keep advancing their Trailer Jailer and making it more secure.

They also say, so far, to their knowledge, no thief has been able to steal a trailer with the system attached.