Sarnia Police are launching a campaign targeting shopping cart theft

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Sarnia Aisle Cleanup.

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The city’s police recently announced that they have taken the unusual approach of enforcing shopping cart theft.

The carts belong to the stores, and people caught taking them could be hit with theft or possession of stolen property charges, Deputy Chief Ron Hansen said.

Generally, people taking wheeled carts away from curlers in merchant parking lots will be targeted, he said.

But it’s not an approach that gets charged, he said, adding that police want to be respectful.

Officers will talk to people first, take their names, hand out pamphlets, talk about the problem and encourage people to return the cart, he said.

In the second offence, police could take the trolleys, issue a formal warning and give people a box instead if they use the trolley to store their belongings, he said.

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A third offense could mean charges, although there is some leeway for officer discretion, he said.

The goal isn’t to charge, he said, but to use the carts, as highly visible community wounds, as a way to start conversations with people who might need help.

“If they’re not sheltered, we can start trying to get them resources,” he said.

It’s also a way to identify people who might be using shopping carts for other criminal activities, he said.

That could include destroying them and selling them for scrap, potentially for drug money, or using the carts for other thefts, Hansen said.

“Just like when people are out in the community looking to steal stuff, they can put it in a shopping cart and push it down the road and it carries more,” he said.

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He compared the campaign that was announced on December 4 to the broken window theory.

“If you take care of the little things that are visible in the community and fix them, then the community has this perception of being safe and secure,” he said, adding that it does lead to safer communities because it deters crime.

“I think it’s a win for all of us,” he said.

The initiative has received some criticism on social media for focusing on a relatively small problem when more significant crimes are taking place, he said, adding that police are still focused on bigger crimes.

But targeting small things can lead police to more significant crimes, he said, noting that a recent blitz on retail theft in the city resulted in police arresting thieves hired to help finance drug trafficking.

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Drugs are “pretty much the drive behind most of the crime we’re dealing with,” he said, including theft.

“So we’re trying to take a multi-pronged approach.”

Police generally haven’t enforced shopping cart theft, but taking that approach could help find efficiencies because police can’t be everywhere, Hansen said.

They haven’t been charged yet, he said.

So far, some carts have been picked up from Rainbow Park, where there is a homeless camp, and plans are to get volunteers to collect them from places around town, Hansen said.

As of Dec. 4, 650 carts have been stolen in 2024 from area retailers, he said, noting that the costs are being passed on to consumers.

Some strollers with built-in anti-theft technology can cost hundreds of dollars, he said.

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“It’s not about us trying to help grocery stores make more money,” he said. “It’s about looking at a community problem.”

Giant Tiger store owner Leo Suglio said he was happy to see the approach.

His shop keeps about 30 carts on hand on any given day and loses thousands of dollars each year replacing and recovering them, he said.

“I agree with the police coming out and saying that taking shopping carts off the premises is a form of theft,” he said, noting that the carts at his Northgate Plaza store cost about $150 each to replace.

He also pays a local man to collect and return abandoned carts to the city, he said, adding that he has heard of carts being stolen for scrap metal.

Shopping cart theft has been a problem since he opened the franchise 26 years ago, though it has worsened over the past two, Suglio said.

“Probably two or three times a year. . . I’m loading my shopping baskets,” he said.

“It gets to a point where you just can’t find them anymore.”

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