Depends on the age of the construction (and how recently it’s been renovated.) When I lived in Chicago, the apartment buildings in my neighbourhood mostly dated from the '30s and '40s. Almost all of them had wired-in intercoms of the type ltfire describes — that or a doorman.
What about this?
a FUBAR ?!?!?
FUBAR SMASH!!!
GRRRRR!!!
Oh, and my building has a Knox Box as well. I don’t know whether or not is has keys in it.
Lacking a Knok Box (which in my town, by ordinance, any building with a fire alarm connected to the fire department’s box system has a Knox Box) personally, I’ve been a through-the-lock sort of forcible entry guy for the no-keyholder-but-no-smoke-either stuff. Very little damage, and it usually only takes me a couple of minutes, if that.
Besides, you look like MacGyver when you pull your K-tool and picks out.
At my police department, we typically have the entry code for a building or gated complex in the Dispatch computer and can access the code if we are sent to a call there.
Also, many times we can slip in when a resident opens the gate to go in or out and avoid the code altogether.
Rob