Dozens of shopping carts seized in Kamloops RCMP crackdown
KAMLOOPS — RCMP say they have spent the summer cracking down on stolen shopping carts, the majority used by the Kamloops homeless population to store and transport their possessions.
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie says in the spring, police noticed an increase in complaints from businesses that their carts were being stolen.
“Earlier this spring, we surveyed numerous businesses and learned that most of them said they do suffer customer inconvenience due to a lack of carts available because they’ve been stolen, and they also have a financial loss from the stolen carts that are never recovered,” said Shelkie.
“We’ve also received reports from other business owners indicating that the people who were using the shopping carts were blocking customers from accessing their stores and forcing people to leave the sidewalks when they’re walking down the sidewalks in front of stores.”