Waste Management launched a community safety and crime watch partnership with police in jurisdictions throughout Skagit County and North Snohomish County April 29.

Waste collection truck drivers will act as additional eyes and ears in the neighborhoods they service.

“Waste Watch formalizes what our professional drivers have been doing for years on their routes. When they notice something suspicious they report it to our dispatchers or directly to police,” said Larry Willis, Waste Management district manager.

Forty Waste Management drivers attended a Waste Watch training class conducted by former FBI agent and current Waste Management Corporate Security Officer Kris Spilsbury.

Drivers learned what constitutes suspicious activity and when to notify police. Such activity could be individuals peeking in windows, breaking into cars or videotaping government buildings.

“I think it is a very innovative concept,” said Officer Del Farrell of the Anacortes Police Department. “It’s a big help to us to have those drivers looking out for things that don’t belong.”

The program was launched in Anacortes, Burlington, Mount Vernon, Sedro-Woolley and Stanwood along with communities in unincorporated areas of Skagit and North Snohomish counties.