On Tuesday, June 12, at 9:06 a.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were on patrol in the 1300 block of Alley Number Four after they had received several complaints from citizens about homeless people who were living in an open bay where trash dumpsters were docked.
This bay is private property and is used by several businesses that are located in the area.
The officers were examining the bay when they saw a man sitting in the morning sun, whom they recognized as a person who had been arrested by the police many times before at the very same dumpster docking bay.
This man was in possession of a large quantity of shopping carts that he was using not for shopping, but as conveyances with which to store and transport his personal possessions.
The shopping carts were the property of the respective supermarkets from which they originated.
This man was therefore eligible for arrest for illegal possession of shopping carts, and so the officers did just that.
This 47-year-old homeless man received bail of $250. It is not known if he came from Georgia.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.