WWW.ALOA.ORG JANUARY 2023 KEYNOTES 31 master key systems and/or physical and electronic security at a facility whose main purpose is not necessarily secu- rity.” Institutions include colleges, uni- versities, hospitals, prison and federal, state or local governments. I wanted more details on what it’s like to work at a university as an institutional locksmith, and the best way to do that is to go directly to the source. Luckily, I know two fellow ALOA members here in the Washington, D.C., area, who are institutional locksmiths at American University. Orlando Melendez and Fran- cisco Orellana are members of ALOA Institutional Locksmiths (AIL) and In- ternational Association of Investigative Locksmiths (IAIL), and Francisco is a Certified Professional Locksmith (CPL). As noted above, an institutional lock- smith does not necessarily have to be a locksmith and can be another type of professional. Orlando and Francisco do happen to both be locksmiths. Francisco started out as a general locksmith in 2005 and then worked doing commercial lock- smithing for four years, including door and frame repair and replacement. Fran- cisco started as a locksmith at American University in 2010. The other locksmiths he worked with left, and Francisco was the only locksmith for about a year be- fore Orlando was hired. As a result, Fran- cisco had to learn the entire operation and was instrumental in establishing the protocols and systems currently in place. Orlando is also a locksmith but also has a background in building maintenance and as a power engineer; he has extensive knowledge in electronic security systems as well as GSA containers and safe work. He started out in the electronic security world in 1998 and found his spot in lock- smithing in 2001 working as a commer- cial locksmith serving both commercial and federal government clients in the Washington Metro area. He became an institutional locksmith at American Uni- versity in 2019. I was fortunate enough to be able to ar- range to spend a day recently on Ameri- can University’s campus with Orlando and Francisco to interview and shadow them to get a firsthand look and dive in deeper as to what a day as a university locksmith is like. Because both Orlando and Francisco have had experience as commercial locksmiths, they were able to share their insight on the differences between the two. The Visit One of the things that really came through during my visit was how proud Orlando and Francisco are of working at AU. As the only two locksmiths on cam- pus, they have gotten to know many of the staff in security and facilities main- tenance. Orlando mentioned that if he is working by himself and needs help, there are a dozen facilities and maintenance people he can reach out to. They also said they have a great boss and a lot of support from the head of the university. Francisco told me that one of the things he likes best about being an institutional locksmith is that he knows the environ- ment so well. With commercial lock- smithing, you go from one client’s build- ing to the next. Even if you have repeat work at a building, you don’t know who might have been there before, what work they did and if it was done correctly. As institutional locksmiths, Orlando and Francisco oversee the locksmith work for the entire campus, so they control their own work environment. They know the spaces, the buildings what to expect. There are very few surprises, compared with commercial settings. Francisco mentioned that a benefit of being an institutional locksmith is that he goes to the same place every day, and he knows he has a parking spot. This might seem like a little thing, but I can relate. Doing commercial work in a large urban area can bring with it a lot of stress just from dealing with traffic and not know- ing how long it will take to find a spot — if you can find one at all. If you must park far from the job site and go back to your vehicle mid-job because you didn’t anticipate needing a certain tool, the cus- tomer might complain about how long a job took because of the delay. During my visit, Francisco and Orlan- do pointed out the variety of buildings on the campus. I was struck by the age differ- ence in two particular buildings. One was very old, and one was quite new. Hurst Hall was built in 1898, and the Hall of Science (HOS) was built in 2021. Both are research buildings for the Department of Biology and Chemistry. The tenants from Hurst Hall were relocated to the new HOS building. However, Hurst Hall does still have some classrooms in use. Working for a commercial locksmith- ing company can be a lonely existence. Sometimes more than one locksmith is dispatched to the same job, but often just one locksmith is. Orlando and Francis- co work together. Even though there are some parts of their day when they don’t overlap because of their schedules (Fran- cisco comes in and leaves earlier; Orlando starts a couple of hours later and stays later) or they are doing jobs at different buildings, they are always working as a team and supporting each other. Their different skills and strengths complement each other, so their task division comes naturally. They communicate well with each other, too. It appeared to me that they work in harmony and appear to be “on the same sheet of music,” as the saying goes. Throughout the day, each knows where the other is. And they’re able to contact each other. One of the big differences that Orlando
