Prosecuting Shopping Cart Related Offenses

Shopping cart theft has recently gained a flurry of nationwide and even global attention surrounding many newly and recently passed laws penalize those who steal carts from retail premises. States like Illinois are even allowing fines up to $2,500 for repeat offenders.

Retailers have often bore the brunt of fines and penalties for shopping cart related issues. For many retailers, this is welcome news - however there are still steps retailers need to take for these offenses to be quickly and effectively handled by local law enforcement:

Ensure Signage is up to Par: The presence of the required signage on the shopping cart is required in many jurisdictions. In states like California under (BPC § 22435.1) it is critical for a successful prosecution. Most other states require some form of posted notice on the store property or the cart itself warning customers not to take the carts.

Be able to Prove Intent: The prosecution must prove that the individual had the "intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart." This can sometimes be inferred from the circumstances but is a key element. Nearly every state law we analyzed focuses on this issue. This is a key area tracking technology can help by:

• Automatic Time Stamps of Incidents: The QuickTrack software logs location and event time stamps, making it easy to verify when a cart was taken and where it was taken too. This can also be paired with surveillance footage.
• Full Location History: By providing, accurate, technology-enabled geolocation tracking, retailers can prove a cart was taken off-premise and where it was taken.

Provide Documentation: Any incident information, such as date/time, individual description, asset value, and all other useful evidence should be provided to law enforcement. This can be tedious to do for fleets of hundreds of carts...fortunately, QuickTrack technology can simplify the documentation and reporting process by:

• Automated Event Alerts: Carts that travel off premise can have alert notifications automatically sent to store staff, loss prevention, or local enforcement.
• Event History Logs: Alerts can feature a full event report with time stamps and location history.

Retail crime and the issues it causes are finally gaining more public awareness and legislative action. As a retailer, the more information and data you can feed your law enforcement partners and local officials, the more progress will be made.

If you are curious to see how a tracking solution can benefit your stores and keep more carts on property for your customers, contact us below.