Hennepin sheriff creates safe spaces to close deals

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office is opening up public safety facilities for online transactions, and child custody exchanges.

The new "Swap Spots" program aims to provide safer alternatives for people who buy and sell things on Craigslist, retrieve property from acquaintances or drop off and pick up children from separated parents, Sheriff Rich Stanek said.

"Sometimes things happen or people don't feel safe meeting a stranger somewhere to buy or sell their boat, their car, set of tires," he said, "or if they've got some issues with the other parent and they don't feel safe doing so."

Instead of meeting at random places, Stanek said the three public safety facilities in Minnetonka, Brooklyn Park and downtown Minneapolis are a better alternative.

The Swap Spots are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But deputies aren't required to keep track of exchanges that happen there.

The Sheriff's Office said people can meet inside during business hours or in the parking lot after hours. The public may request law enforcement presence, but it's not guaranteed through the program.

"Criminals aren't the brightest people in the world," Stanek said. "I don't think many of them are dumb enough to do something foolish when they go to a location like that."

In 2012, a 26-year-old Maplewood man was charged with murder for shooting a teenager who wanted to buy a cellphone the man advertised on Craigslist.