Seen At 11: Tracking Clues Via NYC Trash With The Environmental Police
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - From the fight to contain Ebola to the war on terrorism, our first line of defense may actually be in our garbage.
Imagine having to sift through more than 12 tons of rotting garbage to find a clue.
"This is one of those jobs that nobody else would want to do," Commanding Offcier Peter La March said.
But as CBS2's Kristine Johnson reported, this is a job for the Environmental Police -- a little-known unit within the city's sanitation department.
"We have worked with the FBI, the IRS, Secret Service," La March said.
Their mission is to keep New York safe from everything from an Ebola outbreak to a bioterrorist attack by tracking our trash.
"Unfortunately, there are people out there looking to do harm and we might come across something in the trash," Deputy Director Josh Frank said.
On the day CBS2 tagged along, the team was called to a waste management facility in Brooklyn where sensors detected some sort of radioactive material in the back of a garbage truck setting off alarms and concerns.
Wearing protective gear and using Geiger counters, the officers waded through the truck's emptied, decomposing contents to find the source.
Incredibly, the hot spot was found and the officers determined the radioactivity was from medical waste most likely having to do with radiation treatment for cancer.
Still, every call could be a clue pointing to an evil plot.
"It could very well have been something used for a dirty bomb," Frank said.
Part hazmat team, part CSI investigators, the officers like veteran Carlos Rodriguez respond to calls for help with everything from illegally tossed chemicals that need to be disposed of safely to abandoned vehicles found loaded with potentially hazardous materials.
"I've been here 14 years. I've seen a lot," Rodriguez said.
"We want to get it off the street as quick as possible," Lt. Frank Liotta said.
But one of their biggest concerns is improperly discarded medical waste.
The unit was the first on the scene at the apartment of Ebola patient Dr. Craig Spencer, making sure no potentially contaminated garbage ended up curbside.
But it happens.
Investigators found confidential medical records, dirty needles and even urine samples in the garbage of a Brooklyn doctor who they say will now face fines of up to $10,000 for putting both sanitation workers and residents at risk.
"We really are on the front lines trying to find it before it harms you," Frank said.
The Department of Sanitation holds SAFE Disposal Events for the public to get rid of hazardous materials. To learn more about the events, visit their website.
You Might Also Be Interested In:
