12:15 on a Thursday afternoon.
Just five minutes into their patrol, members of the C-R-T squad stumble on a stash of shopping carts
"This is a typical stop for us," says Mike Tierney. "Every week."
The most likely four wheel vehicle to be swiped in Federal Way is not a brand of car. It's a shopping cart ans since 2010, the volunteers who make up Federal Way's Shopping Cart Recovery Team have retrieved 4-thousand carts a year.Well over a million dollars worth.
"If you were to put these together in a nest like you see at the grocery store, so far to date, that line would be about five miles long," says Federal Way Police Commander Brett Hatfield. "It's pretty crazy."
For the men who make up the team, it's a way to give back.
"I'm retired," says Tierney. "I've got the time and, candidly, you get a work out. Keeps you fit."
Sitting in the back of the patrol car, reporter Saint Bryan asked "So tell me have you developed a way of seeing shopping carts out of the corner of your eye?"
"Yep," says volunteer Tim Lehnherr." You can kind of pick them up between the buildings. And all of a sudden you'll spot one. A red one or a green one."
Nabbing ninety in a day isn't unheard of.A lot are left at bus stops. There's areas volunteers call Shopping Cart Alley and Shopping cart Lane. But they carts always get returned to their rightful owners.
"I'm not out looking for numbers to see how many I can pick up," said Lehnherr. "I'm not looking out to help the stores. I'm looking to keep my city clean and as long as I can do that then I'm happy with what we're doing."
