INVESTIGATIVE SPOTLIGHT Forensic Classes Available in 2018 Division President Tom Demont provides the dates for class availability — and a few reasons why you should enroll. 2 018 is here, and I’m trying to figure out what new forensics equipment or classes I can take with my refund under the new Trump tax bill. I ordered a Lyman Borecam to add to my inspection bag of digital scopes. As a forensic investigator, you must be able to examine inside the safe or lock through any holes leſt by someone attempting to gain access so that you can prove if the holes found would allow someone to gain access or not. I will be in Milwaukee at SAFETECH the first two days in May teaching the in- vestigative locksmith class to students who would like to start training for forensic investigating and eventually sit for the Certified Forensic Locksmith (CFL) examina- tion. Even if you do not pursue a career as an investigate locksmith, the knowledge you acquire will make you a better locksmith in servicing your customers. If SAFETECH and Milwaukee are not in your travel plans this year, you still have two chances to sign up for forensic classes. ALOA will hold its 2018 Convention and Security Expo at the Gaylord National Harbor, which is south of Washington, D.C., at Indianhead/Fort Washington, MD, and across the Potomac River from Old Town Alexandria, VA. The last opportunity you’ll have this year is in October at the IAIL Forensic Conference at our training center in Dallas, TX. Another interesting thing happened as I was achieving more credentials: My expert witness business started picking up through the referral agencies. With each creden- tial, I would update my CV (curriculum vitae, which is essentially a super enhanced resume), and potential clients would read it and contact me about cases. It boosted my retirement income by $15K average each year. So, for expert witness, the more credentials the better! The nice thing about most credentials is that once you have them, they are yours for life and look great on your CV. What I like about locksmiths becoming forensic investigators is that they have the talent and the knowledge to make great investigators. In all of the CSI shows you’ve seen, have they ever investigated the inner workings of a lock or explained the dy- namics of a master key system — and how you have less security in this type of sys- tem? The reason you haven’t seen these is because our work is too complex for their WWW.ALOA.ORG 60-minute program. I was at Keedex last night, and George Hill was showing me his locks that were used in the movie “The Italian Job” where they drilled open this massive vault. George pointed out that when they did a close-up of the time lock, it was upside-down in the movie, render- ing it deadlocked. It pays to hire a good expert, but George pointed out that only we nerdy locksmiths would spot that — just like we laugh when someone picks a lock with only a rake and it turns nice and smooth. Not! Think about forensic locksmithing as an expert witness; this makes a great re- tirement profession, and it draws on all those years of knowledge you have locked up in your mind that will go to waste un- less you put it to work doing less physical work… just exercising your brain. If you haven’t joined IAIL, do it now, and it will be the best $50 you’ve ever spent next to your ALOA/SAVTA dues. Contact me for more information on this exciting new career. Tom Resciniti Demont, AHC, CAI, CFDI, CFL, CMIL, CML, CMST, ICML, IFDI, LSFDI, ARL, President, In- ternational Association of Investigative Locksmiths, aloa.org. Get Published! IAIL members: Submi t your ar t icles for the Invest igat ive Spotlight department. Send your informat ion to Ross Squire at [email protected]. APRIL 2018 KEYNOTES 11
