On the first day of the Shopping Cart Collection Initiative, a combined 60 carts were relinquished at two separate locations within Las Cruces.
Most of the shopping carts relinquished Thursday, Oct. 10, belonged to seven retail establishments. The ownership of three of the carts could not be determined.
The Shopping Cart Collection Initiative is an opportunity for anyone who has possession of a shopping cart that belongs to a retail establishment to relinquish it without consequences. Las Cruces police will accept the shopping carts, and no enforcement action will be taken during the initiative.
Police will then contact the businesses that own the carts so they can be retrieved.
On Thursday, LCPD collected shopping carts at two locations: the Community of Hope at 999 W. Amador Ave. and in the parking lot on the 2200 block of east Lohman Avenue.
Officers and Community Outreach personnel will conduct a second and final Shopping Cart Collection Initiative from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
The Shopping Cart Collection Initiative is being held in advance of the Oct. 16, 2024, date when police begin enforcing the new Shopping Cart Ordinance that was adopted by City Council in August. LCPD chose to delay enforcement of the ordinance until Oct. 16 to allow for education of the new regulation and the return of carts that may be in the possession of individuals within the community.