Security & Fraud

Postal Lock Timers are a good way to thwart thieves

There was a break-in at an apartment building. The residents couldn't figure out how the thieves penetrated the security. There were no signs of forcible entry and the apartment owners ruled out the culprit as being a building key in the wrong hands.

The strata council did everything to ensure the security of the building.  How did the intruder defeat their efforts? Did somebody buzz them in through the enterphone system or was it a sneak thief who followed behind somebody entering the building? Maybe the criminal picked the lock open or knew somebody in the building. Perhaps a swollen exterior door wasn't fitting properly or a door closer was just to tired to do it's job.

These are all conceivable probabilities. However one likely possibility many don't consider is the venerability of the postal lock that allows access into the building. These locks are located on the enterphone panel for the sole purpose of allowing the letter carrier entry into the building. The key that operates this lock is called a postal lock key.  When a postal worker slides his or her key into the postal lock and turns, it activates the electric release on the main entry door allowing access into the building.

One postal lock key could access several apartment buildings in an area creating a nightmare if in the wrong hands. Unfortunately these keys are not exempt from being lost or stolen. Unaccounted for keys often find themselves in the hands of thieves who use them to enter apartment buildings for the purposes of  stealing mail, personal property and even automobiles.  A bi-product of stolen or lost postal lock keys is car theft.  Once a burglar enters the building, he or she targets the parkade area and quite often rewards themselves with a new automobile.

One way to dampen a thief's fun is to shut down the postal lock after a certain time. This can be accomplished easily and inexpensively by installing a timer in the electrical room where the leads from the postal timer to the electric door release meet.   . 

These timers allow you to set specific times allowing a post office worker to enter the building within those designated times with the postal key. If the postman delivers the mail around 10am, you could set the timer to allow mail delivery between the hours of 8am to 12pm. This would allow a four hour window for mail delivery. The other 20 hours of the day would not allow access into the building with the postal lock key. 

Counterfeit postal keys are another problem. These are keys that are made by crooks for crooks to fit postal locks. These home made keys are another reason to ensure that restrictions are put into place to limit the times that these locks are operable. There is no doubt about the fact that postal lock timers thwart thieves, so apartment building owners and strata councils should definitely consider this feasible option.

Please e-mail your security questions to Fourchalk@telus.net.