Lakewood Gets Safe Space For Internet Sales, Purchases

LAKEWOOD, WA - On April 20 in Renton, a man went to a public place - a Jimmy Mac's Roadhouse restaurant location - to sell a phone. Although it was dark out, the Jimmy Mac's parking lot is bush: behind it is a big shopping plaza with a Wal-Mart, and the restaurant is located along a main road. Despite the public locale of the meetup, the seller ended up getting shot and robbed.

That man survived, but the transaction went about as poorly as it could've - and there are plenty of other examples out there of people getting robbed, injured, or killed while selling an item to a stranger through a website like Craigslist or eBay.

Lakewood police this week announced that the department had created a space at police headquarters for buyers and sellers to safely conduct online transactions. The app OfferUp recently sent the department a sign, which police installed in the parking lot outside the department.

"Our lobby is under constant surveillance and is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a staffed front counter. As a rule, if you are meeting a stranger for the purpose of conducting a transaction, it's a good idea to do so in a public place, where there are other people available who can help in an emergency," the department wrote in a Facebook post.

So if you need to sell or buy something, head to police headquarters. The bright green "meetup spot" sign is right there in the parking lot.

The kicker about the Renton shooting: Renton police have a safe-space spot in the department parking lot, but the victim likely didn't know about it.

Image via Lakewood police