The City of Fenton is offering residents the use of its police station lobby to finalize Craigslist transactions.
Police Chief Rick Aro says he wants people to have a safe public place to sell or buy items after getting in contact with individuals via websites like Craigslist.
"Recently there was a case down south that was pretty tragic," says Aro. "An elderly couple went to buy a vintage Mustang and were actually killed. But now, hopefully, doing it in a police department lobby will keep away some of the individuals that are trying to take advantage of others. All we ask is people coming in let us know what's going on so we can keep an eye on the lobby, so we can make sure things don't go sideways."
Aro says he can't take credit for the idea - other police departments have done this before.
The Fenton police station lobby has 24/7 video monitoring, so transactions can be arranged after normal business hours.
Aro says people still need to take other precautions, such as not carrying large amounts of cash.
