Dive Brief:

• Waste Management employees in Sarasota, FL have partnered with local officials in a program called “Waste Watch.”
• A group of 135 workers were trained to identify and respond to crime incidents. 
• Employees will alert deputies, police officers, fire departments and emergency service personnel to any suspicious behavior witnessed while working their routes.

Dive Insight:

Sarasota is not the first city to rely on sanitation workers to help monitor criminal activity in understaffed areas. In June of 2013, the Antioch Police Department in California asked workers from Republic Services to keep alert for suspicious activity while working collection routes. The department didn’t have the capability to patrol neighborhoods due to the shrinking staff on the police force.