Las Cruces police propose laws against aggressive solicitation, shopping cart neglect

New changes could be coming to the laws in Las Cruces regarding solicitation and the neglect of shopping carts.

Chief Jeremy Story of the Las Cruces Police Department said during a town hall meeting Thursday, that the department has been dealing with abandoned carts and solicitation issues.

The change would apply to aggressive solicitors asking for money on private property.

“It’s not somebody asking politely for money that does happen. That’s not the problem. It’s not what we get complaints about generally, it’s the person who is at your door before you can even open or follows the person even after they’ve told them no,” said Chief Story.

Story added during the town hall meeting, the department is also experiencing a problem with shopping carts being taken from businesses and later being abandoned.

“It’s a significant problem in our city, creates a public nuisance the accumulation of these abandoned carts on public property is a hazard we’ve had fires, we’ve had other issues with them,” Chief Story said.

LCPD is proposing an ordinance to combat the problem and hopefully cut down on shopping cart thefts.

The proposed ordinance would require businesses to:

1. Mark shopping carts with signage.

2. Have a plan to collect shopping carts to reduce theft.

3. Pick up abandoned carts within three days of being notified by the city.

LCPD will present the proposed changes during a work session on Monday before the City Council votes on the matter.

The timeline for when the issue will be brought up for a city council vote was not made clear.

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