Trash collectors(Waste Management) to serve as eyes and ears in the street for police

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC

Waste Management workers are out and about when almost everyone else is not. Except someone who might be up to no good.

A former FBI agent recently trained all Waste Management drivers, helpers and technicians in Rensselaer and Albany Counties to act as a mobile community watch.

"They're on these routes every day so they're used to the normal situation so they are able to recognize a non-normal situation," explains Ken Bevis of Waste Management. Trucks are now armed with a cell phone, camera and incident reports so they'll have accurate information for police and, possibly, prosecutors.

"The drivers understand their main job is to observe and report and let authorities do their job," explains Bevis.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40707906

[Demeter]

1. I'm thinking Union Workers

and wondering if they were taken in by this program....

[RamboLiberal]

3. I may be wrong but I don't think Waste Management is union

[Demeter]

10. depends on the municipality

ours are, still, I am almost certain. Not to say that some elements haven't TRIED to break the union...

[RamboLiberal]

14. My bad - googled Waste Management & repped by Teamsters

At least in some areas.

[RKP5637]

2. Sounds like the cold war and is your neighbor a communist! Hoover and

McCarthy would have had a ball with this society and surveillance of today. Wonder if reward money is involved for valid or invalid information.

[hayu_lol]

7. Most outside nightworkers have been doing this for years...

without resorting to a need for a public announcement for brownie points.

[RKP5637]

8. This is my feeling too ... I think most night workers would report something

suspicious without a Darth Vader program announced.

[jwirr]

26. Postal workers in our small town keep an eye out for problems

especially the elderly who live alone. This could be good IF used the right way but it does have real potential for abuse.

[Iggo]

45. I had two different graveyard jobs, both behind a cash register part of the night.

At each job, I made sure I knew the cops and the cops knew me.

That's basic survival.

[dixiegrrrrl]

37. Funny you should bring that up:

In a long piece today, CBS news talked about the increasing surveillance and said, about Napolitano:
"In her speeches, she compares the undertaking to the Cold War fight against communists."

The article is very very creepy.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/20/politics/washingtonpost/main7167877.shtml

[RKP5637]

44. Yep, some people I'm sure think this is great, until they find one day they

are on the other side of the fence, not because of something they did, but because the fence moved. Despotic govs. love these types of things. Who knows what direction our country might go in years to come.

I find it uncomfortable that a country has to be under this type of surveillance to make sure the citizens are 'good' citizens. It's a slippery slope IMO.

These could become tools of control freaks very easily. Every place I look here cameras are springing up. Some buildings have so many cameras they look more like a prison than a shopping mart, for example, and we don't even have a high crime rate.

[fascisthunter]

4. Fucking Crazy... This Country becomes totalitarian by the Day

spying on each other now? WTF!?!

[AngryOldDem]

33. Then what do you call Neighborhood Watch groups?

I welcome this. Lately in my area there have been a lot of early morning break-ins/home invasions. Not everybody is up and about when these things are going down, other than probably trash haulers. If they see suspicious activity -- and given that they run these areas on a weekly basis they should know what is normal or not -- then hell yes, I want them reporting it to the police, just like I would hope that mail carriers would notice things out of the norm and report them as well. It's not like they're combing through people's trash for evidence of wrongdoing.

More eyes and ears can only cut down on crime. That's the purpose behind this and other programs that make people more aware of their surroundings. I once organized a NW group in my old neighborhood, and people were appreciative.

Not everything is Big Brother.

[gmoney]

39. I'm not so sure that's what it means...

Yes, calling about masked people in stripey sweaters carrying bags marked SWAG in large letters would be OK.

But I don't want to clean out my medicine cabinet and throw away a couple of nearly empty bottles of cough syrup, only to find my front door knocked down with a battering ram because someone jumps to the conclusion that I'm cooking m3th.

I wish Gladys Kravitz would just stick to her knitting.

[fascisthunter]

5. dupe

[sarcasmo]

6. Welcome to the Homeland.

[HopeHoops]

9. Ve haf vays of vinding out zeez zings.

In my best, bad German accent.

[PfcHammer]

11. All your mischief (and rubbish) are belong to us.

[Matariki]

12. "The driver's main job is to observe"? Seriously?

I'd think it would be to drive the garbage truck and do trash collection.

So will Waste Management employees have to get a security clearance now?

[LiberalFighter]

13. I seriously doubt they pay that much attention to their surrounding.

Last year, my neighbor across the road died from a heart attack on her front step. She wasn't found until I looked at her about 1 PM on the day of trash and recycle pickup. Trash is usually early in the dark but recycle is between 8 and 9.

And trash people aren't focusing on a small area. They would have about 5 or 6 areas they cover in a week.

Neighbors is the best way.


Technicians???

[Denninmi]

15. Mine does.

A neighbor a couple of houses down and on the other side of the street works for a garbage company, and leaves for work at about 3:30 in the morning. I don't know him, and he doesn't know me, but I know he works for the garbage company, because I've seen him pull into his driveway many times driving the garbage truck (yikes!).

A few years back, I was outside in my back yard at that time of the night, hosing off peach and cherry trees with the garden hose to save the fruit from a late April freeze. I saw him leave and go by kind of slowly. About 10 minutes later, the cops were shining a light in my backyard from their car.

Now, mind you, I was out there in my pajamas, winter coat, boots, hat, gloves, but no ID - I didn't think I'd be running into anyone at 3:30 in the morning in my backyard, so didn't really plan on needing to be dressed or having ID on me.

Luckily, I saw the police before they saw me, so I just hid behind my compost bin until they left. I just wasn't in the mood to hear them order me out of my own back yard at 3:30 in the morning with my hands up, embarrassing me and waking up the whole neighborhood.

I still go out and spray off the garden in the wee hours of the morning if frost threatens, but now I do it fully dressed and always take my wallet with me, just in case. And I turn on all of the outside lights and carry a flashlight so I'm more visible. That way, if someone sees me, at least they'll probably not think I'm creeping through the darkness.

[NutmegYankee]

16. It is a myth that you must have ID on you.

Yes, you must have your license on you to drive, but you do not need ID on you when walking around the neighborhood or working in your yard.

[CreekDog]

30. except in Arizona

where you have to prove you're a citizen.

[NutmegYankee]

31. Wasn't that overturned in court?

[AlphaCentauri]

17. will they be taking snapshots of what they see through bedroom and bathrooms windows

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3_iLOp6IhM

[grasswire]

18. didn't the carlyle group purchase Waste Management?

Something is ticking in my memory about it.

[grasswire]

22. oh, it's the British waste management corporation "Shanks"

Billions of dollars. Beware, Brits!

[Hannah Bell]

32. don't think so. but it's owned by wayne huizenga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Huizenga

Huizenga is said to have used questionable means to grow his business in the early stages. In one documented incident, Huizenga grabbed a man by his testicles for not using Huizenga's garbage disposal outfit—an accusation that Huizenga denies

there's worse on him but no time to look it up

[bemildred]

19. So do they get a raise to go with these new duties and responsibilities? nt

[itsrobert]

20. Next up, FedEx Drivers, the Milkman, and Newspaper Delivery Boys/Girls

Of course the Milkman will notice the husband not home the son that looks like the milkman at school.

[KansDem]

21. First it was WalMart shoppers...now waste-management employees...

Who's next to become the eyes and ears of law enforcement?

edited to add hyphen to compound adjective...

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. Glad you asked "who's next?". This is next...actually, now:

InfraGard!!!!!

At its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector. InfraGard is an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States.

http://www.infragard.net/

Google them. They have chapters in almost every state.
Wiki has good info. on them.
Very tied into the Chambers of Commerce and focus is on business owners "keeping an eye on" people in their community.

[RKP5637]

46. Yep, we're headed for being a paranoid nation, paid informants with right or wrong

information, turn in your neighbor with right or wrong information, but get a few bucks. This could easily slide downhill into a real mess. Citizens spying on citizens, revenge spying, framing, setups ... this could lead a lot of bad places IMO.

[Solly Mack]

23. :::Insert joke about the Sopranos here:::

(fade to black)

[AmandaMae]

24. insanity...

[ZombieHorde]

25. Lame. nt

[AndyTiedye]

27. Maybe That's Why They Keep Running Over My Garbage Can With the Truck

Our garbage men have run over my garbage can numerous times
and driven through the neighbor's rhododendrons more than once.

I think they need to watch where they are driving!

[madrchsod]

28. nothing new...the utilities in northern il has had this for years...

after all...trash is public once it hits the curb.

[Pacifist Patriot]

29. I'll be honest and say I have conflicted feelings about this, but I'm wondering...

if the people who are so unnerved by it also have the same reservations about Neighborhood Watch programs.

I'm wondering if I'd really mind if a garbage collector, postal worker, newspaper delivery person, meter reader, or someone else who is routinely in my neighborhood reported suspicious activity if they saw something unusual that made them think a crime might be in progress.

I saw the story above and honestly I'm not that all that bothered by a garbage collector telling the local police that someone is in my backyard at 3:30 in the morning if they aren't used to seeing someone out at that time. It's really no big deal for me to say, "Hi officer, no worries I live here. I'm just watering the trees to make sure they don't freeze. Hope you're staying warm!"

Maybe it's the Pollyanna in me, but I see it as people looking out for one another and making sure they are safe rather than wanting to spy on someone else. I'd rather these types of employees be trained to handle suspicious events properly than to either over-react to a trifle or ignore a true threat.

[Bragi]

36. Do your garbage collectors show up at 3:30 am?

I doubt it.

[Pacifist Patriot]

41. No, but I have a neighbor who works the graveyard shift at the hospital.

She would be in a position to notice odd comings and goings at that hour. If she were to call the cops if she saw someone in my backyard at 3:30 a.m. (even if it was me and she didn't realize it in the dark) I don't think I'd jump all over her for spying.

[lonestarnot]

43. Ugh yes.

[blindpig]

34. The FBI and the Mafia have long had an 'understanding'. n/t

[Bragi]

35. I remember when privacy was a serious right

I'm old, and clearly out of touch with modern trends and sensibilities, but I can remember a time when this kind of idea would have been rejected by right and left as intolerable.

Now it's idea whose time has come. Neighbor watch and neighbor denunciation programs are just around the corner.

[gmoney]

38. Great, so they're going through our trash now?

Just when I finally got TMZ to STOP.

[Pacifist Patriot]

49. No, that's not what it says.

They are being trained how to act appropriately if they observe suspicious activity on their regular routes.

[Canuckistanian]

42. Are they getting paid for the extra work?

I'd tell them to pound sand unless I saw some extra bucks in my paycheck.

If they want me to be a private detective, I want $1000 a day (plus expenses).

[WinkyDink]

47. I remember when Americans scorned Communist Cuba for its block-watching snitches.

The CDR VOP (Vigilancia y Orden Público—Vigilance and Public Order) Front works directly with the uniformed police. At the end of the 1980s, CDRs were reorganized, with each sector now consisting of several city blocks with one person assigned control. Each morning, the sector controller meets with the CDR officials (the president, vice-president, or other official), particularly those in charge of VOP, at each block and obtain the daily log of activities in that particular block.

The CDR officials have the duty to know the activities of each person in their respective blocks. There is an individual file kept on each block resident, some of which reveal the internal dynamics of households. For this reason Maida Donate-Armada (1996) says that “perhaps the greatest contribution (of the CDRs) to the history of world espionage may be to have raised to the level of counterintelligence the daily gossip (chismes) and disagreements (bretes) that go on at the neighborhood level. Citizens must be careful of their actions and of what they say, as they are being constantly monitored by the block CDR.

[mrdmk]

48. Three personal experiences here

1) Keeping your eyes and ears open for something unusual needs to be considered a survival strategy. While walking my dog late at night I heard a sound come from behind me, then observed a person (likely male) black hoody, blue jeans, tennis shoes, about 5'10" about 150 lbs jump out of the back of a pick-up truck and head for a white car. Just as he started the car a person with the same outfit and size few out of the same truck a ran for the car. Of course I called the cops. The suspects at this time drove away with lights off (it was night) and I was not able to get a license plate number. There was some problems in our neighborhood until that time. Yes, the dog did growl at these two, so I know they were up to no good...

2) Where I use to live, Waste Management (known as the Waste Mafia) employee parked his truck to eat lunch. The truck leaked hydraulic fluid on the ground and left a fifty foot mess in the gutter of the street. I called and complained to Waste Management. They never did cleaned-up the mess.

3) When working for a cable TV company I was up a lot of poles. Though I never asked to report any problems in a neighborhood, or worse suspicious activity in someone's home, you have no idea how many times I would see some guy walk into his backyard and take a piss. Never a girl, just a guy. Not to mention, these guys never noticed me before (for sure) or after the act.

[hobbit709]

50. They want everyone to be a Gladys Kravitz.

[lonestarnot]

51. Can they see the chromium 6 in my water?

[Javaman]

52. Tony Soprano laughs and rubs his hands greedily. nt