WWW.ALOA.ORG JANUARY 2023 KEYNOTES 5 PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVE A re any of you “institutional locksmiths”? ALOA has a division called the AIL (ALOA Institutional Locksmiths) that is geared toward locksmiths who work for institutions (schools, government, hospitals, etc.). These are locksmiths who are on the staff of these institutions and wear a lot of hats at times. However, there are a lot of locksmiths who do work for institutions but are not permanent staff members. Are these any less of an “institutional locksmith?” I would argue no. There are many schools, hospitals, etc. out there that are either not big enough or do not have enough work to hire a full-time locksmith. I have one hospital and two schools that I work for. They are regular customers, like many others. They have staff members who take care of the maintenance work, but when it comes to the technical work (such as master keying), they call me. Therefore, I am an institutional locksmith. Can I join AIL and participate? Ab- solutely. We would be happy to have you. Can these members help you? Absolutely. Many of them have specialized knowledge of a particular brand or brands of hard- ware. But you have to know who to ask the question of. We have many classes and certifications especially for institutional locksmiths, and we’d love to have more of you who do institutional work to sign up as AIL members. If you want to learn more about the division and any classes coming up (like at the ALOA Convention in July in Orlando), contact ALOA Education at education@aloa. org or AIL President John Truempy at [email protected]. Congratulations to the Fox Valley Chapter Look in this magazine for pictures taken at the Fox Valley meeting celebrating their 30th anniversary on December 13th. I would like to thank them for all the cour- tesies extended to me on behalf of ALOA and wish them well in the years to come. Bill Mandlebaum, CML President ALOA Security Professionals Association, Inc. [email protected] Join AIL “ALOA has a division called the AIL (ALOA Institutional Locksmiths) that is geared toward locksmiths who work for institutions (schools, government, hospitals, etc.).”
