His plan to reduce crime in East Dallas probably will generate more bad jokes than immediate results.

But Lee Solheid hopes to have the last laugh.

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Solheid is district manager for BFI Waste Systems, the company that picks up garbage for 56,000 homes in Northeast Dallas – including nearly every home between Central Expressway and the City limits, between Mockingbird Lane and Henderson Avenue.

Solheid’s scheme, dubbed “Alley Cats,” calls for each of the three-man crews staffing BFI’s garbage trucks to take a version of the police department’s community crime-watch class.

“I thought, it goes head and shoulders with what the police department is trying to do,” Solheid says. “The new chief (William Rathburn), is trying to reduce crime in Dallas by going into the neighborhoods, and we’re in the neighborhoods every day.”

That presence was the genesis of this plan. A BFI driver, Greg Lindsey, helped police catch a couple of burglars in the M Streets several weeks ago when he noticed several suspicious characters walking out of a house carrying shopping bags full of household items.

Lindsey used his truck radio to call a report to the dispatcher, who called 911, which alerted a patrol car, whose officers made the arrest.

“You can see a lot more from the alley than you can when you drive in front,” Solheid says. “We’re out there in the alleys, twice a week, with three people. That’s six pairs of eyes that can be watching for crime.”

The BFI crews hope to complete their training by the beginning of March. The program is similar to those available to postal employees and others who spend time on the street during the day: It emphasizes keeping an eye out for unusual activity, without actually trying to catch thieves.

In fact, Solheid says his employees have been instructed not to act like policemen.

BFI plans to begin the Alley Cats program this month. The company already has presented the idea to the Greenland Hills Neighborhood Association, and it has contacted several other neighborhood groups to explain how the program will work.

Company officials want to alert neighborhood groups that its drivers will be keeping an eye out for trouble, and Solheid wants the groups to provide feedback on the program. (For information, call Solheid at 225-8151.)

“I didn’t know how our employees were going to react to this,” Solheid says, “but they seem real enthused about it.”

And why not. It’s no doubt better than being the butt of the latest garbage man joke.