San Clemente to Adopt Shopping Cart Theft and Personal Belonging Ordinance

San Clemente to Adopt Shopping Cart Theft and Personal Belonging Ordinance
In this file image a homeless person sleeps by his shopping cart on a downtown sidewalk in the early morning hours of April 19, 2006 in Los Angeles, California. David McNew/Getty Images
Brandon Drey
Updated:

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.—San Clemente officials are preparing to formally adopt a new ordinance on Feb. 1 concerning shopping cart theft and unattended personal property.

Previously, city officials said, locals had free reign to take a shopping cart from businesses and leave the basket on wheels anywhere in the city unless business owners pressed charges for the stolen property, which the county sheriff’s department would enforce under state law.