-By Warner Todd Huston
The police department in Antioch, California is so short handed it has taken the unusual step of asking mail carriers and garbage men to help them fight crime by becoming their eyes and ears on the street.
In the small town, employees of the local garbage collection service, Republic Services Inc., and letter carriers of the U.S. Postal Service have been given special tips on how to spot crime on the streets. Police have dubbed the program, “We’re Looking Out For You,” and hope to add more eyes to their force to keep the town’s 105,000 residents safe
Workers in the two separate fields will be given training and laminated cards with a list of questions intended to sharpen their powers of observation. The cards also have the department’s non-emergency phone number on them so that garbage collectors and mailmen can report anything they might see as they go about their daily business.
Antioch Police Lt. T. Brooks says that the program will be a “force multiplier.”
“These are people who are actively engaged in the community and are actively participating in making Antioch a safer place,” Brooks said.
Tim Argenti, the General Manager of Republic Services, says that the average time out on the garbage routes for his work force is 12 years on the job.
“So these guys know everybody, children, cars, neighborhoods, and so, It’s perfect,” Argenti said in support of the program.
Police have warned their new associates not to get directly involved in crime themselves, however. The garbage collectors and mailmen were told to just keep their eyes open to any suspicious activity and then report it immediately.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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