DALLAS, Texas (WBAP/KLIF News) — With social media quickly becoming the fastest way to connect private sellers and buyers more people are being victimized by robbery. In the past year alone three people have been killed, according to the Dallas Police Department, which is considering creating “exchange zones” at police substations for people to safely exchange goods for money.
Last year a 42-year-old woman was shot to death in a parking lot where she had arranged to meet a man who wanted to buy her daughter’s iPhone. Last month a similar robbery ended in the death of a 29-year-old man in South Dallas.
The Dallas Morning News reports there have been 42 robberies linked to social media purchases in just the first month and a half of 2017. Last year there were 152 such robberies.
Monday Dallas police officials suggested the safe zones idea to the City Council Public Safety Committee. Council members support the idea.
Interim Dallas Police Chief David Pughes also likes the idea, saying it could greatly reduce the strain on a dwindling department in which he expects to lose about 350 officers this fiscal year. Financial and pension issues are leading cops to quit the DPD and look elsewhere for work. Pughes says having people meet in safe zones in the parking lots of police substations would be very popular with police as well as the public.
So far no timeline has been suggested for the establishment of safe exchange zones.
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