Originally published November 2 2015
Police state government is spying on you through your local garbage collection trucks
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Federal, state and local governments have a plethora of technology they use to "monitor" We the People, but few of us ever really considered the local garbage collector as part of this web of surveillance.
This network of pseudo-spies is vast, numbering in the hundreds of thousands and keeping watch on neighborhoods all over the country on a near-daily basis.
As reported by Blacklisted News, the second-largest trash collection firm in the country, Republic Services, "trains" its drivers to keep an eye on things under the guise of a community watch program.
According to this local collection services web site:
The "We're Looking Out For You" Program is a crime prevention and safety enforcement initiative that enlists the active participation of Republic Services drivers, in cooperation with law enforcement and emergency services, to reduce crime and maintain neighborhood safety. Republic Services drivers will be a neighborhood watch resource by serving as extra and alert "eyes and ears" in the community.
Drivers, supervisors and dispatchers are trained to recognize and report suspicious activities in the communities that they serve.
In addition, dispatchers are trained on procedures for reporting incidents to local law enforcement or emergency services agencies.
Drivers witnessing an emergency situation or suspicious activity relay the problem to dispatch, which in turn, contacts the appropriate authorities.
What could go wrong?
"As involved members of the community we serve, we take our role seriously. In addition to providing residents with first-class waste services, our 'We're Looking Out For You' Program proves our solid commitment to you and our community," said Steve Carroll, Republic Services Division Municipal Services Manager.
In some communities, such as Fairfield, California, local trash collection drivers have been the "eyes and ears" for police for years.
"We want to partner with the community we service," Division Manager Tony Cincotta said. "It just makes sense. We're out there anyway."
This calls to mind the Department of Homeland Security's "See something, say something" program; like Red China, America is becoming a nation of neighbors spying on each other.
Like Republic Services, the DHS program is all based on maintaining happy, safe "communities":
Across the nation, we're all part of communities. In cities, on farms, and in the suburbs, we share everyday moments with our neighbors, colleagues, family, and friends. It's easy to take for granted the routine moments in our every day—going to work or school, the grocery store or the gas station. But your every day is different than your neighbor's—filled with the moments that make it uniquely yours. So if you see something you know shouldn't be there—or someone's behavior that doesn't seem quite right—say something. Because only you know what's supposed to be in your everyday.
What could go wrong?
Just ask residents in Seattle.
Trash cops
As Fox News reported recently, garbage men there have literally become de facto police officers:
When it comes to garbage, the city of Seattle has launched a waste war.
Nine full-time solid waste inspectors have been hired as part of a controversial program to check city trash to make sure people are recycling. Additionally, contracted waste haulers have been effectively deputized as trash police, given the authority to tag bins when people fail to recycle and compost enough.
Even in liberal Seattle, residents believe there should be limits to government encroachment, so the program is now at the center of a lawsuit.
"I understand people have noble goals," said Keli Carender, who was left a notification two weeks in a row by trash cops about items tossed away, an offense that soon could bring a fine. "But at some point we have to say, you can't violate my rights to achieve this noble goal."
Carender is one of about 14,000 Seattle-area residential and commercial customers who has been tagged this year. The stickers left by the trash cops warn customers that more than ten percent of their trash content should have been recycled or put into compost containers.
Sources include:
BlacklistedNews.com
LeagueCity.com
DHS.gov
FoxNews.com
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