Trash and recycling truck drivers can add one extra responsibility to their list of job duties. Besides keeping the streets clean, police hope they may be able to help keep them safe too.
Law enforcement agencies are joining forces with Waste Management to train trash-haulers on reporting suspicious activity and potential emergency situations.
"The drivers some of them have been on their route 20 and 30 years. They go places every day that law enforcement never sees," said Les Hart from Waste Management. "They know what light is supposed to be on, what door is supposed to be closed, that little red car is always there. When something is amiss they really know, they have a gut feeling. "