BOSTON—Michele Velleman needed to sell a Zumba dance fitness kit, a cellphone, and a table. So she found buyers on Facebook and made the trades at—where else?—the police station.
“It is always a little nerve-wracking when you go to someone’s house. It’s in the back of your mind: ‘I hope this person is OK and everything turns out all right,’” said Velleman, 44, who is an executive assistant for a pharmaceutical company and lives north of Boston in Georgetown. “I think my mother is happier I’m doing it this way.”
“Online safe zones” like the one Velleman uses are popping up at police stations nationwide as authorities try to clamp down on crime associated with online trade between strangers. More than 100 police departments now provide space in their lobbies or parking lots where people can make their deals knowing that police are only feet away.
