SPOTLIGHT INSTITUTIONAL Dorm Room Break-In! (Or Not) Figure 3. Using his pocket microscope from Control Company, the author found no signs of picking on the pins. Because this was a Corbin Russwin Mas- ter Ring cylinder (Figure 2), I had to remove the top cap to remove the build-up, master and top pins and the springs. Again, all were laid out in order. Now we were ready to get do to the nitty gritty. I carefully placed the first bottom pin on my carpeted workbench with the point facing up, and using my trusty pocket mi- croscope from Control Company, I found… nothing. I carefully placed the second bot- tom pin with the point facing up and, us- ing my trusty pocket microscope, I found… nothing (Figure 3). If I needed to make an official report and document my findings, I would’ve used my Celestron digital microscope to view the pins. It’s tremendously easy to take great photos of pins or any other very small part using a digital microscope. There was a time not too long ago when using digital microscopes during an examination such as the one I conducted was laughed at. In fact, some courts wouldn’t even accept im- ages taken with a digital microscope as evi- dence. That has changed. Feel free to take evidentiary photos with impunity. 14 KEYNOTES NOVEMBER 2017 Figure 4. This image shows an example of a pin showing evidence of an attempted bypass via picking or raking. I think that you can guess what I found with pins 3 through 6, but I’ll state it for the record anyway: I found nothing. There were no signs of anything other than nor- mal pin wear that you’d expect to find on a 20-year-old mortise cylinder. Just to be sure, I carefully cleaned all of the pins with a clean rag to get a better view of each pin. The same result: nothing. Here’s an example of what I would’ve found if there actually was an attempted bypass via picking or raking (Figure 4). As you can see, when picking tools are used to attempt a bypass, the hard spring steel that almost all picks are made out of will leave behind noticeable (to a forensic locksmith) bright tool marks on the soſt and relatively dull brass pins. Marks can also be seen on pins that have more of a nickel-silver finish; they’ll just be slightly more difficult to see. But marks will be there, nonetheless. Each step of the way, I let Sergeant Mc- Namara see what I was looking for using the same tools I was using. He could see the same evidence — or lack thereof — that I was observing. That was the end of my examination. Later that day, Sarge meet with the resi- dents and their parents, described my examination and my conclusion. At that point, the residents confessed that they “probably leſt the door unlocked accidentally.” My thoughts exactly. Vernon Kelley, CMIL, CPL, CFDI, ICML, IFDI, CFL, has been involved in the locksmith and secu- rity industry since 1989, and is a licensed lock- smith in the state of New Jersey. A noted instructor and editor, he’s co-author of the book Institutional Lock Shop Manage- ment. Vernon has served on the ALOA board of directors, and he is currently the first trustee of ALOA Institutional Locksmiths and director for the ALOA Scholarship Foundation. A recipient of the prestigious Lee Rognon Award, as well as the Robert Gress Award, Vernon is the Supervisor of Access Control at The College of New Jersey. WWW.ALOA.ORG
