Everyone knows a big-city police force has a lot on its plate. In Baltimore, a new responsibility has been entrusted to the men and women in blue – policing trash cans.

Those big green garbage cans being delivered to residents now and in the coming months are the property of the City of Baltimore. Hence, pilferage of same will become a matter of police department record.

Residents who find their cans missing from their backyard or stolen on trash day or simply blown away to parts unknown must report the loss to police, according to a press release issued yesterday by the Department of Public Works.

This can be done by filing a stolen property report online, which will generate a police report number.

“DPW cannot provide a free replacement without this police report number,” the press release warns.

And Don’t Scrawl Your Name!

Tracking down perpetrators of can crime apparently won’t be easy. While DPW likes to describe the new receptacles as “smart,” their intelligence won’t be of much use to investigators.

The much-touted “radio frequency identification tag” embedded in each container, DPW acknowledges, isn’t a “beacon” that can be located remotely. Instead, the tag has got to be checked with a scanner placed right next to the can.

Body cameras, perhaps, but scanners are not something that Baltimore police are likely to have in the future.

So DPW advises residents to become their own crime stoppers by tying a ribbon or tag on their can for identification. WARNING: Defacing city property by writing your name or street address on a can is forbidden.

The agency also advises citizens to jot down the serial number of their can (located on the rear panel) and keep that information in a safe and secure place.