Glendale, AZ - Glendale is launching a new program aimed at making the city safer.

Police Chief Steven Conrad said the ''Fleetwatch" program will get more eyes and ears focused on the community.

''Essentially, training city employees who are out there operating city vehicles as they're on duty to give us a call when they see something suspicious," Conrad explained.

''With about 3,000 employees in our city, this gives us the opportunity to have a significantly greater impact," he said. ''I kind of look at this as a forced multiplier, but we have more eyes and ears on the street that are just helping us make sure our city's safe."

City workers will be trained before the program goes into effect.

''It's kind of like neighborhood watch, where we train neighbors how to be good neighbors and watch out for one another. We'd like to do that same thing, only mobilize it," Conrad said.

He added, ''As city employees see things that look out of place or they see what they believe to be criminal activity, we want to give them a number that they can call -- whether it's 911 if it looks like a serious emergency or another number where they can call directly to speak to one of our dispatchers -- so we could then in turn dispatch another officer.

''It's all about trying to use the resources that are already in place. With some additional training, we could find outselves in a position where we could really be powerful in terms of keeping our city safer."

Conrad said Fleetwatch could go into effect within the next couple of months.