BRUNSWICK, Maine — Signs were installed Wednesday at the Brunswick police station designating two parking spaces as “Internet Purchase Exchange Locations.”
The spots, in the parking lot at 85 Pleasant St., just off the street, are under 24-hour video surveillance and designed to provide a safe option for people buying and selling items from Craigslist and other online sales sites to drop off and pick up.
Brunswick Police Cmdr. Marc Hagan said Thursday that after hearing from people who typically exchange such items in supermarket parking lots, and learning that some police departments in other communities offer the spots, “It seemed prudent to offer our station.”
“You’re meeting people on the Internet and you don’t know who they are,” he said. “It’s always better meeting them in public. We wanted to have a safe location and these are in a good, safe spot with video surveillance 24/7. If something were to happen, we would have it on video.”
People parking in the spots for such exchanges don’t need to enter the station, he said.
The two signs cost $35 each, and were paid for by the town.
The spots were announced early Thursday morning on the department’s Facebook page, and by 1 p.m. the post had been shared 2,369 times and garnered 321 comments — nearly all enthusiastic and many encouraging other Maine police departments to follow suit.