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Coral Gables Police Department Partners With Waste Management

John Power
/
WLRN
Waste Management workers take a Waste Watch exam.

The city of Coral Gables believes Waste Management employees can also be crime fighters.

 

 

Credit John Power / WLRN
/
WLRN
Waste Management workers go over answers from the exam.

Coral Gables Chief of Police Ed Hudak Jr. was fascinated by the idea of Waste Watch, a crime prevention program. “This neighborhood watch initiative enhances the safety of Coral Gables neighborhoods and provides law enforcement with an extra set of eyes on the street to protect our community and citizens,” says Hudak.

“We’re getting drivers to recognize that our No. 1 crime in Coral Gables is theft from motor vehicles, and we’re trying to reduce that,” Coral Gables Police Officer Kelly Denham says. “If they do see that suspicious person or something’s not right; just give us a phone call to dispatch and have the unit officer respond and investigate.”

 

Waste Management drivers have undergone appropriate training on what to look for, how to react and what to do in case of an emergency. Their main goal is to be out on the streets, to observe and report situations.

 

If drivers see anything suspicious they are instructed to safely pull over and call emergency officials or their immediate supervisors.

 

 

Credit John Power / WLRN
/
WLRN
Allen Mitchell, director of corporate security of Waste Management, with Waste Management workers

 

James Combs has been working with Waste Management for three years and believes this program will help the community.

 

“I have been in situations. We see everything - sometimes things that the residents and business owners don’t see,” he says.

 

In Florida alone, Waste Management employees trained through Waste Watch report that they have saved an elderly lady from a burning car, helped a lost toddler return home and stopped a potential theft.

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