Tulsa Police Offer Station Parking Lots for Online Exchanges

01/29/2015 – You hear about it all the time, people respond to a Craigslist ad and get scammed, robbed or worse. Tulsa police said they’re now offering police parking lots as a place to make those transactions to keep you and your family safe. It’s just a parking lot, but the close proximity to police could deter a criminal from harming a buyer or seller.

Tulsa Police Officer, Leland Ashley, said their own pavement could be a safer place for Craigslist transactions. “We can’t guarantee that someone wouldn’t decide to go ahead and commit a robbery and do something in our parking lot,” he said. But it could help. Ashley said Craigslist users can meet in the parking lots of TPD substations. “You don’t want to do it on a location that’s not frequently traveled either by pedestrians or by vehicles,” he said.

Ashley said it’s best to meet at a substation between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., but it’s still not a good idea to go alone. “I would say, maybe take one, two, three people with you so maybe, you know, that individual can see, well, they didn’t come by themselves,” Ashley said.

Ashley said no matter where you meet, use caution. “Go to a well-lit, well-traveled area,” he said.

From KOTV Channel 6 in Tulsa: