Shrinking police budgets force local communities to get creative about crime-fighting. A local company is helping to clean up the streets of Mid-Michigan in more ways than one.
Waste Management, the company that picks up garbage, is training its workers to spot crime and report it.
They take out trash, and now they're looking to take out crime.
Joe Denczek, public relations for Waste Management, says "We want them to be observant, recognize potential problems that are out there: breaking and entering, car crashes, things like that; people looking through windows, looking through trash."
Wednesday morning, 60 drivers that service Genesee, Saginaw, Shiawassee, and Lapeer counties receive an hour-long instruction course on crime-fighting.
Duane Stone, residential route manager, says "It's not for us to prevent it, but just to observe and report. The same drivers drive the same routes weekly so anything that's out of the normal, they key in on it."
Drivers carry booklets to write down any suspicious activity. If anything needs immediate attention they call 911.
The program is nationwide.
Company officials say, Waste Management drivers were vital in seeing someone going through garbage looking for sensitive information for identity theft. The driver reported it, and police arrested several people.
The garbage trucks run nine to 11 hours a day in many Mid-Michigan communities sifting through the neighborhoods making safety a priority.
Similar efforts are going on right now in Lansing, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids.
