I think many people mis-understand locks. Locks are very rarely there to prevent entry. It's there to prevent undetected, unauthorized entry, or to make entry a little harder, but not impossible. With bump-keys, most locks actually fail at both (never mind lockpicks) -- and end up being a strange kind of security theatre -- where most people are in fact actors (ie: don't realize that so many, many locks are completely insecure in any meaningful way).

Another thing that people often mix up, are security and safety. A secure door/building is a death trap. If people can't get in/out in an emergency, that's usually terrible, for almost any kind of building. A building that you can't break into or out of in less than a minute, is unsafe.

Or to put it another way: what's the difference between being in prison and living in a castle? ;-)

There is a reason I mentioned fire codes, I suppose I could have been more verbose. :P

But yeah, stronger locks are pointless when you have doors that are designed to be kicked in [or out] in an emergency by someone who is able to apply a certain level of force to the right spot on the door.

I didn't mean to imply anything you said was wrong, just expand on it :-)

Yep, and most apartments have worse versions of those, which the residents are contractually forbidden from doing anything about. I'd love to have a steel door with a solid frame and half-way-decent locks, but since my landlord is good with whatever was on sale at Home Depot, I don't get a say in the matter.

How long to get through the wall with a fire-axe, even if you secured the door and door frame?

How would your landlord notice if you upgraded the door?

Or care if you upgraded the lock and gave them a key?

The door he suggests would violate the fire codes in every municipality I've ever lived in.

So given the landlord would be fined by the city and told to change it back is the reason the landlord would care.

Good points. I guess its just people being present and social pressures (and more along these lines) that keep us honest.

I've read the phrase "Locks are on doors to keep the honest people honest." in that context.

You could pick the lock or break a window, but that requires enough effort/behavior out of your norm to stop the impulse to maybe do something not-so-honest.