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  Geebo 8:00 am on September 18, 2024 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Online Classifieds ( 12 ), online marketplace ( 11 ), pennsylvania ( 9 ), safe exchange zones, safe zones, Safety ( 45 )   

  State Promotes Safe Exchange Zones 

  

  By Greg Collier

  A bipartisan effort to improve public safety is moving forward in Pennsylvania with a new proposal to create designated Safe Exchange Zones. These public spaces would be used for completing online sales, trades, giveaways, and even custody exchanges in a secure environment. The bill recently advanced in the Pennsylvania Senate, moving closer to becoming law.

  The proposal was introduced following concerns about the dangers of in-person meetings for online transactions, particularly after a tragic incident in 2021, where an individual lost their life after meeting a buyer from a popular online marketplace. The bill seeks to prevent such tragedies by providing safe, monitored areas for these exchanges.

  If passed, the legislation would establish a grant program, allowing municipalities to set up Safe Exchange Zones at locations like police stations, sheriff’s offices, and other public places. These zones would be monitored by video surveillance and include clear emergency contact information. The Department of Community and Economic Development would oversee the program, ensuring proper policies for video monitoring and retention, while safeguarding constitutional rights.

  While this is a positive step toward improving safety, concerns remain about how effective these zones can truly be without direct supervision. Video surveillance alone may not be enough to prevent incidents, and by the time someone places an emergency call, it could already be too late to prevent harm. Without an immediate response or active monitoring, the zones may offer only limited protection in the most dangerous situations.

  If approved, this initiative could make Pennsylvania a safer place for everyday exchanges, offering residents a secure environment for meeting strangers, whether for online transactions or custody arrangements. However, the question remains whether these spaces can fully guarantee safety without more active oversight.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 8, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: car wash, Colorado Rockies, counterfeit money ( 9 ), craigslist ( 129 ), Human trafficking ( 98 ), OfferUp ( 23 ), safe zones, tickets ( 17 ), UK ( 10 )   

  Fake cash in a safe zone, phony opening day tickets, and an app to report human trafficking 

  

  When dealing with classifieds transactions, we often recommend using safe zones at local police stations. While safe zones go a long way in helping to ensure your safety, you can still be ripped off if you’re not careful. In Pennsylvania, a pair of suspects were said to have paid $500 in ‘Motion Picture Money’ for a PlayStation 4 at a local police station’s safe zone during an OfferUp transaction. While police were able to apprehend the suspects quite easily, this does show that you should be on your guard at all times even when using specially designated safe zones.

  Meanwhile, in Colorado, a couple found themselves out of $300 after trying to purchase opening day tickets for the Colorado Rockies. They had set up a ticket purchase through craigslist and had met the seller in the parking lot of Coors Field on opening day. The couple even took a picture of the man selling the tickets and his driver license in hopes that this would dissuade the man from selling them fake tickets. Unfortunately, it didn’t as the couple were turned away from the gate for the tickets being invalid. The tickets themselves appeared to be legitimate but what scammers do in many cases is they buy the tickets using stolen credit cards. Once the cards are reported stolen the tickets are canceled but the scammer already has physical tickets that were valid at one time. This particular scammer reportedly even taunted his victims after they tried to contact the seller over the phony tickets.

  Lastly, in the UK, an app has been developed to report possible human trafficking at car washes. The app was developed by an anti-slavery arm of the Church of England and shows users a checklist of signs of human trafficking at hands only car washes. A number of the victims at UK car washes turn out to be people displaced by immigration issues, mental health issues, or being in abusive situations. The app refers any possible sightings of trafficking to the UK’s National Crime Agency who decide if it warrants an investigation. While apps like this have been attempted in the US many don’t show the user how to recognize the signs of trafficking. An app like this designed by the FBI and suggested to the industries where human trafficking mostly takes place could be a boon in the fight against all forms of human trafficking. In the meantime, if you or someone you know could be caught up in trafficking you can contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1 (888) 373-7888 or at their website.

   
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  Geebo 10:01 am on February 13, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Dallas ( 3 ), safe zones, SafeTrade ( 5 ), texas ( 22 )   

  Are safe exchange zones effective? 

  

  In the wake of the multitude of violent crimes that have been committed through sites like craigslist and apps like OfferUp, a number of police departments across the country have set up safe exchange zones for people to have a safer environment to make transactions. For example, each ad on Geebo contains a link to the SafeTrade Stations initiative which contains a list of all participating police departments across the country. In the Dallas, Texas area, a number of police departments created safe exchange areas after too many high-profile crimes took place where the criminals used classifieds sites or apps to find their victims.

  More recently, another murder has sadly taken place in the Dallas area where the victim was using a classifieds app to try to purchase a cell phone. This has caused Dallas news station WFAA to ask if the safe exchange zones are having any effect to which police departments in North Texas say that the effect has been mixed. A representative of the Arlington Police Department had the following to say on the matter.

  “We know people are utilizing it but unfortunately you still have that segment of the population that is still kind of trusting other individuals and meeting them offsite,” Lt. Christopher Cook said. We still have a lot of our robberies occurring at nighttime unlit places and untraveled locations.”

  A tool is only as good as the person who is using it. If people aren’t using the exchange zones it’s difficult to ascertain their true effectiveness. It seems more like the problem isn’t the zones themselves but the education and publicizing of these zones.

   
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  Geebo 8:59 am on May 25, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: AB297, craigslist bill, nevada ( 2 ), safe zones   

  Does Nevada’s new ‘craigslist law’ really protect consumers? 

  

  Earlier this week, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed bill AB297 into law. The bill, known as the ‘craigslist bill’, was sponsored by State Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui of Las Vegas. The law now states that each police department within Nevada will now have at least one area dedicated to online transactions that must be within the confines of the police department. While some departments in Nevada already have these safe zones, other departments will have until September 30th to comply. The question remains, will this actually protect classifieds users from potential robberies and other violence?

  Safe zones in police stations are unfortunately nothing new. It’s been suggested for years that people should use police department grounds to complete classifieds transactions. The common belief is either a potential criminal will refuse to meet their target at a police station or that no one will try anything foolish at a police station.

  While this law will go a long way in protecting some consumers and bring awareness to the dangers of craigslist, a large number of the populace will not use these safe zones. A lot of people in poorer and urban areas have a distrust of police. Whether or not that distrust is warranted is a topic for another day, but it is a reality. Consumers in these areas will continue to practice unsafe transactions just to avoid any involvement from police.

  This is also not taking into account that someone may actually try to commit a robbery or something else in one of these safe zones. If you think about it, a number of the old rules no longer apply to safe transactions. The rules used to be you takes someone with you to the transaction and meet them in public during the day. This hasn’t stopped robberies and murders committed through craigslist from taking place in public during the day. Just recently in Georgia, a man was killed in a restaurant parking lot during the afternoon after a craigslist transaction went wrong. Therefore, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for someone to try to commit a crime right in front of police.

  While the legislation is well-intentioned, it’s doubtful it will have much effect since safe zones across the country have not slowed the march of crime on craigslist. This legislation shouldn’t have even come to this. If craigslist actually took some basic steps to try to protect their users this wouldn’t even be an issue. Instead craigslist continues to stick its head in the sand where they still think it’s 1996.