Shopping cart-nundrum being addressed by police

You might have seen shopping carts outside of their natural habitats in Moose Jaw.  

Sgt. Ryan Lawrence with the Moose Jaw Police Service said police are coming across abandoned carts during foot patrols around the city – in alleys, on the sides of roads, and even in the Serpentine in Crescent Park. 

“What we’re finding in these shopping carts are stolen property – like copper wire, bike parts, alcohol, knives, weapons, bottles, garbage – anything really.” 

Aside from the carts containing stolen property, they also become stolen property once they leave the store premises.  

Police have received reports of people pushing carts full of bottles down the middle of the road on Thatcher Drive. 

Lawrence provided details on an initiative to bring the carts back to their rightful owners, getting businesses who own the carts to sign documents to confirm that they haven’t authorized off-property use.   

“A lot of the times we would approach people and they would say ‘well, they said I could have it, or they said I could borrow it,’ so we’ve taken that excuse away from people.” 

Once the carts are recovered, store owners arrange to transport the carts back to the businesses. Lawrence noted that in speaking with businesses, one owner indicated that 60 carts have gone missing from their store. At $250 per cart, that translates to $15,000 in missing carts.  

Police Chief Rick Bourassa said that while charges could be laid for repeat offences, their primary aim is to stop the behaviour. 

You can call police at 306-694-7600 to report abandoned shopping carts.