---
title: "California Penal Code 466 PC: Possession of Burglary Tools"
description: "PC 466 makes it a misdemeanor to possess tools like a crowbar or picklock with intent to break in. Here's how the charge works and how it's defended."
url: "https://www.thehfirm.com/penal-codes/pc-466-possession-of-burglary-tools"
site: "H Law Group"
---

# California Penal Code 466 PC: Possession of Burglary Tools

PC 466 makes it a misdemeanor to possess tools like a crowbar or picklock with intent to break in. Here's how the charge works and how it's defended.

Topics: Penal Code 466, Burglary Tools, California Criminal Defense, PC 459 Burglary, Vehicle Theft Tools, Los Angeles Criminal Defense

## What PC 466 covers

A crowbar in your trunk is not a crime. Neither is a screwdriver, a set of vise grips, or a spare key you had cut at a hardware store. What turns those ordinary items into a criminal charge under California Penal Code 466 is what you intended to do with them: break into a building, car, or aircraft that isn't yours.

That distinction is the entire statute. PC 466 doesn't ban tools. It bans possessing certain tools while intending to use them to break in somewhere you have no right to be. A locksmith carries picks all day and never gets near this law. Someone caught in a parking garage at 2 a.m. with the same picks, standing next to a car with a punched-out lock cylinder, is a different story.

Police lean on this charge often, usually when they catch someone before an actual break-in happens or can't prove one occurred. It's a lower bar than burglary itself, but it still requires the prosecution to prove intent to use what was being carried to commit a felony break-in. That's where most of these cases get won or lost.

The statute names a long list of items: picklocks, crowbars, screwdrivers, slide hammers, keybits, vise grip pliers, water-pump pliers, slim jims, tension bars, lock pick guns, tubular lock picks, bump keys, floor-safe door pullers, master keys, and ceramic or porcelain spark plug chips or pieces. It also covers any other instrument or tool that isn't named specifically but functions the same way, which gives prosecutors room to argue that an unlisted item still counts.

As of January 1, 2026, the list also includes key programming devices, key duplicating devices, and signal extenders (key fob amplifiers used to boost a keyless entry signal). That addition came from Assembly Bill 486, signed into law in October 2025, aimed at the rise in car thefts carried out with devices that plug into a vehicle's diagnostic port to clone keys or override the ignition without touching a physical lock.

The law covers three separate ways to violate it: possessing one of the listed tools, or a functional equivalent, with intent to feloniously break or enter a building, railroad car, aircraft, vessel, trailer coach, or vehicle; making or altering a key or similar instrument so it fits someone else's lock, without being asked to by someone who has the right to open it; or making, altering, or repairing an instrument while knowing, or having reason to believe, it will be used to commit a misdemeanor or felony.

Notice what's doing the work in all three: intent, or at least knowledge of criminal purpose. The statute even borrows its definition of "building" straight from [Penal Code 459](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=459), California's burglary law, so the two statutes are meant to be read together. Possessing tools is the setup; burglary is the completed act. PC 466 exists to let prosecutors charge the setup on its own.

## Penalties

PC 466 is a misdemeanor. The statute itself doesn't spell out a separate punishment range, which means the general misdemeanor default under [Penal Code 19](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=19) applies.

- Up to six months in county jail.
- A fine of up to $1,000.
- Jail time and a fine together, at the court's discretion.
- Misdemeanor probation instead of jail, which is common for a first offense with no aggravating facts.

It's a misdemeanor no matter how many tools are involved or how serious the intended target was, which is a meaningful difference from burglary itself. A conviction still goes on your record, though, and it can complicate background checks for jobs in security, contracting, property management, or locksmithing, where carrying exactly these tools is part of the job.

## PC 466 vs. actual burglary (PC 459)

These two statutes get confused constantly, and the difference matters for how a case gets built and defended.

Burglary under Penal Code 459 requires entry: stepping inside, reaching an arm through a window, or otherwise breaching the space, combined with intent to commit theft or any felony once inside. Burglary is a wobbler, chargeable as a misdemeanor or felony, and first-degree burglary of an inhabited dwelling carries a state prison range of two, four, or six years. Even second-degree, commercial, burglary can carry felony exposure. It's a serious charge because something actually happened, or at least the entry did.

PC 466 requires none of that. There's no entry element at all. The crime is complete the moment someone possesses the tool with the requisite intent, whether or not they ever reach the building, the car, or even the property line. That's exactly why officers use it: if someone is caught with a crowbar and pry marks nearby but hasn't actually gotten inside anything yet, or if there isn't enough evidence to prove an entry occurred, PC 466 lets the case move forward without that proof.

The two charges also show up together. A person caught mid-break-in might face both an attempted burglary charge and a PC 466 charge for the tools found on them. A person caught in the parking lot before anything happens usually just faces the 466. Understanding which one you're actually being charged with, and why, is the first thing a defense attorney should sort out.

## Common defenses

Every PC 466 case turns on intent, and intent is rarely something the prosecution can prove with a confession. It's usually built from circumstantial evidence: where you were, what time it was, what else was in the car, whether an alarm nearby had been tripped. That leaves real room to push back.

A lawful purpose for the tool is often the strongest defense. Locksmiths, contractors, HVAC technicians, tow operators, and property managers carry exactly the items named in this statute as a normal part of the job. A work order, an employer letter, a trade license, or simply the tool being consistent with a job that can be documented goes a long way toward showing there was no criminal intent behind it.

Lack of specific intent to break in is the core issue in most cases. A crowbar in a trunk, a spare key in a glovebox, a set of pliers in a toolbox: none of it is illegal without proof of intent to use it to break into something. If the prosecution's case rests on proximity to a crime scene rather than anything connecting the person to an intended entry, that inference can be challenged.

The item may not match the statute. The list in PC 466 is specific, and the catchall for other instruments or tools still has to function like the named items. If what was found doesn't reasonably fit that description, the charge may not hold up as written.

Unlawful search and seizure comes up often, since many of these cases start with a vehicle stop, a pat-down, or a search of a bag or trunk. If officers lacked reasonable suspicion for the stop or exceeded the lawful scope of a search, a motion to suppress the evidence can remove the tools from the case entirely.

Lack of knowledge or possession applies in shared cars, borrowed trucks, or shared living spaces, where the tools might not belong to the person charged and they might not have known they were there. Possession has to be knowing, not just physical proximity.

## Related charges

PC 466 rarely shows up alone. Depending on the facts, prosecutors sometimes add or substitute [Penal Code 459, burglary](/penal-codes/pc-459-459-5-burglary-shoplifting), when there's evidence of an actual or attempted entry; Penal Code 459.5, shoplifting, when the intended target was a store during business hours and the property involved was worth $950 or less; Penal Code 466.5, possession or use of a motor vehicle master key or wheel lock master key with intent to commit an unlawful act; or [Vehicle Code 10851, unlawful taking or driving of a vehicle](/penal-codes/vc-10851-unlawful-taking-or-driving-a-vehicle), which can be charged alongside 466 in car theft cases involving the electronic tools added to the statute in 2026.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I be charged for having a crowbar in my car?

Not just for having it. A crowbar, a screwdriver, pliers, these are ordinary items that plenty of people carry for legitimate reasons. What gets charged under PC 466 is possessing that item with intent to use it to break into a building or vehicle. Without evidence of that intent, having the tool alone isn't a crime.

### Does the prosecution have to prove intent?

Yes, and it's the element the whole case hinges on. Prosecutors almost never have a direct admission of intent, so they build it from circumstantial evidence: location, timing, other items found with the tool, statements made at the time of arrest. A defense strategy built around undercutting that inference is often the most effective one available.

### Is PC 466 a felony?

No. It's a straight misdemeanor under the statute as written, punishable by up to six months in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. It doesn't carry the wobbler status or the felony exposure that burglary under PC 459 can carry.

### Can a locksmith or contractor be charged under this law?

They can be arrested, but a documented, lawful reason for carrying the tool, a job, a license, a work order, is one of the strongest defenses available, because it directly undercuts the intent element the prosecution has to prove.

### Can PC 466 and PC 459 be charged together?

They can. If someone is caught with tools and there's also evidence of an actual or attempted entry, prosecutors may file both. If there's no evidence of entry, PC 466 is often the only charge that's provable.

## Where this leaves you

If you're facing a PC 466 charge, or any charge tied to it, the facts around intent and how the tools were found usually decide the outcome, and those facts are worth reviewing with a criminal defense attorney before you say anything else to police or prosecutors.

## Related California penal codes

- [PC 459 / 459.5 - Burglary & Shoplifting](https://www.thehfirm.com/penal-codes/pc-459-459-5-burglary-shoplifting)

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