SHELBURNE, Ont. – Another police department is offering residents a safe place to complete online sales.
Police in Shelburne, northwest of Toronto, are encouraging the use of parking spaces in front of the town’s police station to conduct transactions.
Const. Paul Neumann says the area is well lit, it is monitored by surveillance cameras, and has a strong police presence.
Police across the country have been setting up similar safe zones as the popularity of buying and selling through online classified and social media sites like Kijiji, Facebook and Craigslist continue to grow.
Safety issues connected with online transactions came into focus following the 2013 murder of a Hamilton man.
Tim Bosma vanished after leaving with two men who came to his home to test drive a truck he advertised for sale online. In June, a jury found two men guilty of first-degree murder in his death.