I voted “no” to your poll on fining stores for abandoned shopping carts. In the past, my response would have been an absolute YES. However, recently I observed Bellevue Police officers watching students from Newport High School giving each other rides across busy Factoria Boulevard.

Despite the obvious danger, it was apparent that the students (on their ill-advised Wednesday afternoon early release) were committing a crime – theft of property, yet the officers did nothing about these teens, who were removing the carts from Factoria Mall property.

This is an enforcement issue. When police officers are willing to enforce ALL laws, and at least take the time to pull over and order teens to RETURN the carts, THEN we can pursue the businesses to retrieve their carts. However, if the police are going to ignore these thefts (when they observe them), we have no right to blame merchants.

Robert Lynn, Bellevue