Driving Away Raccoons

Raccoons have become a bit of a nuisance in my neighborhood. In talking to one neighbor recently, he related a strange solution that seems to have worked. His primary problem was that the raccoons were leaving piles of scat in an area of his yard, but he was unsuccessful at trapping them. Talking to an animal control official, she suggested laying a piece of black plastic sheeting at least 5x5 feet over the area the raccoons were using, which would cause the critters to find a different place to defecate. He tried it, and hasn't seen any sign of raccoon for two weeks.