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Brian4Liberty
01-18-2009, 10:46 PM
One step closer to the old USSR...

So...before this "program" the trash collectors ignored fires and toddlers alone in the middle of the street?

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090118/article/901180363&tc=yahoo


ROSEVILLE, Calif. - Gary Garcia probably knows the early-morning rhythms of the streets here in this city just north of Sacramento better than anyone besides his fellow garbage truck drivers. Anything that breaks the morning pattern is obvious to them, which makes it easy for the garbage collectors to perform an added job -- eyes for the police.

"See, here's an odd vehicle here," Garcia said, gesturing toward a red Ford sedan parked by itself, far from the nearest house, on a street where every other vehicle sat neatly in a driveway. He drove by slowly, peering down into the car but seeing nothing on the seats. "It's an odd place to be parked."

It is a low-tech approach to surveillance, relying not on satellite cameras, space-age radiation detection devices or even neighborhood webcams. In more and more towns, drivers and garbage collectors are helping the police keep up with what is happening on the streets.

Some of the nation's biggest waste collection companies, including Waste Management and Republic Services, have been participating in the program for several years, allowing police departments to train their workers on what to look for.

The program is now operating in 96 municipalities nationwide, including Londonderry, N.H.; Salt Lake City; Denver; and Fort Worth, Texas.

"The program has really, I would say, caught fire in the last couple of years," said Zachary T. Lowe, a former FBI agent who was an early proponent of the program as vice president and chief security officer at Waste Management. "We have not advertised it."

The company's "Waste Watch" program suggested the idea to officials of Roseville, whose garbage collectors are municipal employees. Local police officers trained the drivers, who are not paid extra for participating, last summer.

Most mornings, Garcia says, are loud -- as his big truck rumbles to the curb, and its mechanical arm picks up, empties and repositions 90-pound plastic trash bins -- and predictable. Once in a while, though, he spots something that seems out of place -- that red car near Bill Santucci Park, for example, or on another day a man walking aimlessly at 7 a.m. in a neighborhood that rarely has foot traffic.

About once a month, Garcia says, he sees something unusual enough to merit a call to a special police number.

Police officers say they appreciate the drivers' tips, especially as budgets shrink. Over the last two years in Roseville, the police department has left 10 positions unfilled.

"It's a huge benefit for us," said Lt. Michael Doane, watch commander for the Roseville police. "Obviously we're not increasing law enforcement staff right now."

Doane recalled a tip from a driver who had spotted a man walking down a street, peering into parked cars.

"We went out and investigated, and sure enough, the person had done some auto burglaries," he said.

Apparently the man never noticed the passing garbage truck, Doane added.

"Everybody is used to seeing garbage trucks and public street workers and electric meter readers out every day," he said. "Nobody pays any attention to them."

Drivers are told not to intervene when they see something suspicious, said Aric Henschen, general manager for Republic Services in Aurora, Ill. They are asked instead to "make sure you get a license plate number, try to get as much physical information as you can."

Drivers' tips have led to drug-trafficking arrests, Henschen said, and to the discovery of a corpse in a home that had gone so long without having any trash that a driver grew suspicious.


http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_C_bwaste04.33624a6.html


Trash collectors in Banning and Beaumont have begun working with city police to spot and quickly report suspicious or criminal activity, fires and other possible emergencies.

Houston-based Waste Management Inc. has rolled out its "Waste Watch" community service program, in which police train drivers on what to look for, how to react and how to report incidents.

"The right information at the right time can halt or prevent crime or personal injuries," said Steve Kanow, director of operations for Waste Management of the Inland Empire.

Employees recently trained with Banning and Beaumont police and Waste Management's corporate security to learn more than simply how to scope out suspicious activity. Drivers gained insights on issues from identifying covert criminal activities and providing better leads to being better witnesses and using cell phones or two-way radios to reach dispatchers and police.

After training, drivers take written tests to become Waste Watch-certified.

Because Waste Management's drivers service the same homes and businesses frequently, they are familiar with neighborhoods and commercial areas and can notice things out of the ordinary, said Sean Thuillez, a corporal with the Beaumont Police Department.

"We welcome the extra eyes and ears in our neighborhoods," Thuillez said.

The Waste Watch program was implemented in Moreno Valley about a month ago, said Tom Selway, a Waste Management route manager who oversees drivers and has been with the company seven years.

Although there are no monetary incentives for Waste Management employees to participate in the program, motivation comes from being better citizens and establishing relationships with police and emergency workers.

"It has been really well received," Selway said.

The Waste Watch program also operates in Murrieta and Chino, along with some 35 other cities.

In Chino, a Waste Management driver saw a naked toddler walking down the street and called police, who were able to return the child safely to family. Another driver saw a small flame in a bucket near a garage wall and alerted a resident.

"As the fire began to engulf the garage wall, he grabbed a water hose that was nearby and put it out quickly," said Lily Quiroa, a spokeswoman for Waste Management.

Matt Collins
01-18-2009, 11:10 PM
Pathetic. Police state here we come!

RSLudlum
01-18-2009, 11:25 PM
That would be quite odd here in Charleston since the city uses work-release program prisoners sometimes for garbage pick up.

Matt Collins
01-18-2009, 11:38 PM
That would be quite odd here in Charleston since the city uses work-release program prisoners sometimes for garbage pick up.Oh the irony! :cool:

Brian4Liberty
01-19-2009, 12:02 AM
That would be quite odd here in Charleston since the city uses work-release program prisoners sometimes for garbage pick up.

The government is helping them eliminate their competition!

heavenlyboy34
01-19-2009, 12:03 AM
this is depressing, OP. :(

Chosen
01-19-2009, 10:49 AM
Former Soviet States used to engage in these sorts of practices, they would empower and reward others to spy on fellow citizens. Sometimes they would bring up a trumped up charge to force complacency.

This guy in the article is a garbageman, not an agent. People have the jobs they have for a multitude of reasons, but suddenly in this case, someone who is not of an intellectual classification and is oft overlooked has suddenly become empowered and holds power over other citizens.

The message is this...If you report for the state, if you give the state what it needs, you can elevate yourself in social status. Tyranny has always recruited this way. Identify those of lower social position (due to deficits in personality, intelligence, etc) and empower them to work against others. In East German, the stasi had family members reporting on one another!

If the garbageman wishes to accept this responsibility he will now have to accept its consequences, or the consequences that go along with having this un-Constitutional power handed to him.

You will see in the next few months the exponential increase in this oligarchical tyranny.

I have had the luxury of touring Central and Eastern Europe. Anyone who has knows what the implications of our escalating drive towards collectivism really means.

In Budapest, if you get a chance to go visit the House of Terror. Also, visit Monument Park, the only place collectivism should ever be gathered And only for fantasy and amusement.

http://www.szoborpark.hu/index.php?Content=UgynokElet&Lang=en

Here is a stasi Training clip "the secret lives of others":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWX3v6uHo-w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj22rIjB7GA

A good intro Article:
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/16-02/ff_stasi?currentPage=all

If you ever go to Berlin visit here. There is a great display of all the spying devices, films about social recruitment techiniques and methods and countless stories which mimick what we are seeing now:
http://www.bstu.bund.de/cln_029/nn_710332/EN/Office/office__node.html__nnn=true

Brian4Liberty
01-19-2009, 02:17 PM
if you give the state what it needs, you can elevate yourself in social status.

Exactly. That is the next, inevitable step. Instead of just "keeping your eyes open", they will will be taking assignments.

"Keep an eye on this person. Search this person's garbage. Call us about this person, and we will have cause to search his house".