With the recent news of a brutal attack during a 'buy-and-sell' interaction in Sherwood Park, how can you prevent this from happening to you?
Meeting strangers off the internet to buy and sell items carries a lot of risks as criminals could use the opportunity to rob you with the expectation that you have either valuables or cash on hand.
Luckily, local RCMP has some ways of helping prevent this kind of crime.
The use of dedicated safe exchange zones in areas makes it a lot easier for people to stay safe if things go wrong.
In Sherwood Park, those zones come in the form of two dedicated parking spots located at the Strathcona County RCMP detachment. The same system has been utilized at the Fort Saskatchewan RCMP detachment.
Though these sites aren't consistently monitored, it allows for people using the sites to easily access the detachment if they feel there are some red flags with their meet-up.
Outside of business hours, people are asked to call either 911 if there is an emergency at the site or the direct line to the detachment if there are any questions.