Dallas police and the online exchange site OfferUp on Tuesday announced a plan to create safe “exchange zones” around the city for people completing transactions made on the internet.
The exchange zones will be well-lit, marked by signage and monitored by video surveillance, police say. The first exchange zone was unveiled in the parking lot at Dallas PD’s South Central division.
OfferUp and Dallas police say the partnership will “detect and deter” crime stemming from transactions made on online and mobile marketplaces.
“I know this is just one step, but it’s another very important step toward making Dallas one of the safest cities in this country,” Dallas PD Chief U. Renée Hall said.
Hall said the program has been in the works since December 2016. A month earlier, a woman was gunned down in the parking lot of a Dallas Medieval Times location while trying to sell a phone on OfferUp.
North Texas has seen a string of violence related to online purchases in recent months.
In January of this year, two people were shot to death in Garland following an argument over a camera listed for sale on the site. In February, an 18-year-old was killed during a transaction made on the 5miles app, another online marketplace.
A teen was robbed at gunpoint during an OfferUp transaction in Azle late last year.
OfferUp already has 1,200 locations at police departments and retails locations nationwide and has a goal of being in every city across the country, OfferUp Community Manager Sarah Parker said Monday.
She said the company would send signage for free to encourage other law enforcement entities to use the “exchange zone” model.