File this one away

The special insight of a sanitation worker:"I know, too, that sanitation workers will learn to read a neighborhood more closely than the most sophisticated sociologist just by observing what it discards, but no one will care about their insights. " This seems like something street cops and even Homeland Security should track. It seems that some good studies could come up with garbage characteristics that might flag impending trouble. And no problematic wiretap regulations to worry about.