Long Grove and Waste Management launch community WasteWatch program
The Village of Long Grove and Waste Management Wednesday introduced a community watch program designed to expand the Village's public safety resources.
Under the Waste Management WasteWatch program, the Company's collection drivers are trained to assist Long Grove police and emergency services agencies by reporting suspicious activities and emergency situations to public safety authorities. The drivers are equipped with radios and mobile phones and have resources to communicate with authorities if they see anything out of the ordinary.
Waste Management has about six recycling and waste collection drivers and supervisors who operate in Long Grove serving the Village's approximately 6,700 residents, as well as local businesses in the town's historic business district. Residential collection services are conducted on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday and a driver is in the Village throughout the week serving businesses.
“This is a very good and practical idea which the Village embraces,” said Village Trustee Charlie Wachs. “Waste Management and the Lake County Sheriff are to be applauded for their willingness to think outside the box to provide increased security at virtually no increased costs to the Village. Creative ideas such as these are particularly important in these tough economic times.”
“Our goal is to make Long Grove safer by training our drivers to observe and report suspicious activity, emergency situations and things that are not normal. They do not act as law enforcement officers,” said Anthony Farneti, Midwest Director of Security for Waste Management. “Law officers from Long Grove participate in training our drivers to be on the lookout for local issues that might affect the safety and well-being of residents. Armed with this training, our drivers are better equipped to respond to situations and report them to local authorities.”
“Our Waste Management team knows Long Grove very well and their number one job is to safely collect the community's waste and recyclables,” said Waste Management District Manager John Gerger. “But by keeping on the lookout for unusual events, they can augment public safety resources. It's a way Waste Management adds value to the community.”
Waste Management drivers have contributed to public safety by incidents and emergency situations, Farneti said. They do not act in a law enforcement role, but serve only as an additional resource, adding eyes and ears to report incidents that may call for police or emergency follow-up. In some communities, a Waste Management driver may stop at as many as 1,000 homes in a day on a residential collection route.
Waste Management's Corporate Security Services and Community Relations organizations developed WasteWatch in 2004 and have seen the program expand to more than 100 communities nationwide. It has trained and certified drivers across North America to keep a watchful eye out to protect their communities. Waste Management has been recognized by the National Sheriff's Association for its WasteWatch program.