City prepares enforcement of shopping cart law

Businesses supplying customers with shopping carts have until Sept. 16 to submit their anti-theft plans to the city of Las Cruces as enforcement of the controversial shopping cart ordinance nears. 

That was the primary takeaway from a town hall meeting on Sept. 10 meant to educate approximately 84 Las Cruces businesses that will be subject to potential penalties once the ordinance fully goes into effect on Oct. 16. 

Yet the meeting was sparsely attended. Less than a half dozen residents appeared in person and about a dozen watched online. This marks a change in awareness of a new law that's been one of the more controversial changes in recent memory.

The ordinance, passed by the Las Cruces City Council on a 4-3 vote, compels Las Cruces businesses to supply the city with a plan detailing how they will prevent shopping cart removal. The same ordinance also empowers police officers to cite people using shopping carts outside of a business’ property. 

Those found with shopping carts could face jail time or fines – but the city has repeatedly said its municipal court will seek to force people into treatment programs instead of jail.

Proponents of the ordinance – including the Las Cruces Police Department and Businesses for a Safer Las Cruces, said it was a crucial step in improving public safety. Opponents – including civil rights organizations – said it was ineffective and unjustly targeted unhoused residents of Las Cruces who use carts to shuttle their belongings.  

The day after the ordinance passed on Aug. 5, employees from a Las Cruces Albertsons grocery store took a shopping cart from an unhoused woman, leaving her belongings spread across a Las Cruces parking lot, according to Las Cruces police.

"We’re not requiring the retrieval of shopping carts in the immediate possession of any persons,” said the deputy economic development director, Chris Faivre, during the Sept. 10 meeting. “And that’s key. We’re not asking anyone to retrieve carts that someone is currently using.”

Faivre, who moderated the meeting, outlined the requirements for the shopping cart plans before they were submitted to the city. Faivre also said that the city would spend the time between Sept. 16 and Oct. 16 promoting voluntary compliance among businesses affected by this law.

After that, noncompliance could result in fines and jeopardize a business' ability to operate in Las Cruces.

So, what needs to be in the plan?

Faivre said a shopping cart plan requires six elements: shopping cart identification signs, general information, public notices, loss prevention efforts, cart retrieval efforts and implementation. 

Shopping cart identification signs must identify the cart's owner. They must also contain the business address and phone number to call for retrieval, associate the cart with a store location and notify the public that removal is against the law. 

The general information for the plan must include the store manager's contact information, number of carts and a description of how the business will comply with the new law. 

The public notice can be signage in a prominent location, flyers, mailers, warnings on bags or any other means that reach lots of customers. 

Faivre said the loss percentage effort is a key component of the plan. For this, the city wants businesses to describe the steps taken to prevent shopping cart removal, including cart retrieval efforts. 

Businesses are required to retrieve their lost carts within three days of learning one is abandoned – but not while someone is using it. Faivre said that either an employee of the store or a private firm hired to retrieve them must retrieve the abandoned cart. The plan submitted to the city should reflect how the business will conduct this effort. 

Joy Wiitala, an LCPD lieutenant, said that businesses should err on the side of caution when determining whether a cart is abandoned.

However, that determination will be largely left to the business's discretion. 

Lastly, the plan must describe how the business will implement all the above requirements.