MONCKS CORNER, S.C.- Two parking spots at the Moncks Corner Municipal Complex are now especially assigned and designated as “safe spots.” Town Council members voted unanimously Tuesday evening, Mayor Michael Lockliear says, in support of the “Safe Trading/Drop Zone.” It’s a place under 24/7 surveillance where strangers doing online trades, swaps, or sales can do their exchange. The hope is to protect both parties. It limits the exchange of personal information and could mitigate potential dangers of meeting a stranger in a random place, the mayor says.
“If you drive up and you don’t feel safe, walk inside and have an officer come out with you,” Mayor Lockliear said.
The Safe Trading/Drop Zone and Municipal Complex are located at 118 Carolina Avenue in Moncks Corner. It’s also a place where divorced parents who may want the protection, can drop off their children with camera surveillance and police presence, says Mayor Lockliear.
Dawn Audet is the administrator of several swap groups on Facebook including a group called, “For Sale Wanted or Free in Goose Creek/ Moncks Corner/Summerville/ Ladson,” with more than 20,000 members. She says while most members have the right intentions and want or need the extra income by selling their items, there is a handful of people who may hurt or harm others.
“The stories that we get are pretty horrendous,” Audet said. “People taking people’s things and putting them in their trunks without even paying for it, leaving the person standing there. We recently had someone who was assaulted. We have had people pretending to meet for an item and have ulterior motives.”
Audet offers the following tips for people looking to sell via an online group:
- Use a monitored, safe trade area
- Meet in a well-lit, public place if a safe trade area is not an option
- Do not share your personal information such as phone number or address
- Read your online group’s rules, (If on Facebook she says it’s usually listed under the “File” tab.)
Mayor Lockliear says the idea came for the trade zone about earlier this year after Moncks Corner Police Chief Rick Ollic sent a warning to the public to be very careful when agreeing to swap or trade items with strangers on popular websites. Police arrested 19-year-old Jaquan Meleik Gathers for an armed robbery that occurred on February 6th in the front parking lot of Moss Grove Subdivision South Highway 52 Moncks Corner. Police say Gathers was selling an Apple I-Watch via a website and lured in the victim to rob that person.
Also earlier this year, nearby City of North Charleston offered a safe internet trading zone for its residents. The Moncks Corner mayor says there are already multiple cameras in place overlooking the municipal complex and parking lot, so this was not an extra expense for taxpayers.
“Chief Ollic and I talked about it and decided we need to do it. We were being proactive. He took it one step further and added the child drop off to it,” the mayor said.
The Mayor says he would like to establish a second safe trade spot within the town, but that location is still to be determined.
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