Police in Cobourg, Ont., recovered more than 80 shopping carts last week as part of a Downtown Action Plan.
Cobourg Police Service Chief Paul VandeGraaf says since May 1, the Downtown Action Plan has featured a number of proactive crime prevention measures alongside a harm reduction program.
One measure involved the recovery of shopping carts taken from businesses.
VandeGraaf reports that from May 13 to 18, officers recovered 83 shopping carts, 53 of which were found within a homeless encampment.
Get daily Peterborough news
The police chief says all the shopping carts — estimated to cost between $600 and $2,000 — were returned to the rightful stores.
“A conservative estimate is that approximately $50,000 in stolen property was recovered,” he stated. “During this initiative, there were no charges laid for theft or possession of stolen property.
“Moving forward, charges may be laid in these instances.”
Shortly after announcing the results, police reported that on Sunday a woman in the downtown area was found in possession of a shopping cart from a Winners store. Police say the cart was returned.
A 32-year-old woman was arrested and charged with possession of property obtained by crime. She’ll appear in court at a future date.