Big Time Crime
January 15, 2004
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Posted by Aubrey Turner
So it appears that the Dallas Police will be out in force today to enforce a new ordinance designed to put a stop to a serious crime that is being committed every day in the city. What is this horrible infraction that will require so much time and effort on behalf of the city? Shopping cart theft.
Darryl Johnson is homeless and doesn’t have a car. So he uses an abandoned shopping cart he found near a creek to move around his blankets, clothes and other belongings.
Because of a new city ordinance that police will start enforcing today, Mr. Johnson may want to ditch the cart – or face jail or a fine. The measure makes it illegal to possess a shopping cart off the premises of the business that owns it.
They’ve also established a hotline just to report shopping carts that have been taken.
Grocers hope a newly established hotline will help solve the problem. Anyone can call the hotline to report a cart off the premises of a retail establishment.
Don’t mistake my disdain for this silly ordinance with approval for the actions of the homeless. Taking a shopping cart is theft, so I fail to see the need for this ordinance. Couldn’t it have been handled under existing law? Why was this needed? Given the budget problems that Dallas has been having, how can they justify the expenditure for this enforcement as well as a new hotline.
I suspect that this is just another of the sham attempts by “Mayor Mommy” to make it look like something is being done about the crime problem in Dallas. That, and I get the impression that she gets off on controlling other people.
Categories: Miscellaneous
When I lived in the “barrio” down on Ross, I was near the Fiesta grocery store.
Since many of the people in that area, whether illegal aliens, legal immegrants, or American born, do not have cars use the shopping carts to get their groceries home.
Fiesta seemed to plan for this by having an absolute MOTHER LOAD of carts, and Fiesta trucks that would go out into the area and pick up carts..
So this new law makes no sense to me. Luckily I live in Tarrant County now so Dallas politics are something to shake my head about.
Fiesta planned for the needs of their customers, which are different than those of the customers of stores in different areas. It’s an example of a market-based solution. But these kinds of laws usually don’t take that sort of thing into account and can cause more trouble than they solve. I think the case of Fiesta is a perfect example of this.
Yep, oh, and just want to plug my thanks for your Gun SHow listing, we love it! (Coworkers and I)
I’m glad it’s been helpful. I started it for myself and it occurred to me that it might be helpful to others as well.