In response to growing safety concerns with using meet-and-trade sites like Craigslist, the Lower Merion Police Department is joining law enforcement agencies around the country by offering the parking lot of the Lower Merion Public Safety building as “transaction safe place.” Residents may also use the lobby of the building, at 71 E. Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore, during business hours (8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday).

The LMPD is offering the lot as a safe place to meet and conduct transactions. The use of the parking lot and lobby also serves as a deterrent for criminals.
Police in Philadelphia (any precinct station), Conshohocken, Abington and Lansdale, among other local, state and national law enforcement agencies, have also offered the use of police facilities and parking lots as places to carry out online transactions. Earlier this year, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman encouraged the practice among all county jurisdictions, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.