Pennsylvania: Senate approves “safe exchange zones” bill for online sales and child custody exchanges
A bill recently passed by the Pennsylvania Senate would provide funding to create safe exchange zones for depository exchanges and online marketplace sales. These zones will be under video surveillance and located near a law enforcement agency or in a public area.
Members of Clearfield Borough Council set up a safe exchange zone in the car park of the former police building last year. Earlier this year, the Clearfield Police Department merged with the Lawrence Township Police Department to form the Clearfield Regional Police Department. They are now housed in the Lawrence Township Police Department building.
Clearfield Mayor Mason Strouse said the parking lot next to the municipal building is already well lit and equipped with surveillance cameras. All they had to do was put up a sign for the safe exchange zone.
“The sign says, 'Reserved for custody, e-commerce and private property exchange.' And it says it's under 24-hour surveillance,” Strouse said. “And, 'If a police response is required, please call 9-1-1, or…' and then the non-emergency number is there too.”
Provided by Mason Strouse
The “Safe Exchange Zone” sign in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. The parking lot is located next to the municipal building and has 24-hour video recording.
Strouse said he has seen many people in the community using the zone. He said more municipalities should establish these zones.
“I think it's something that can be done very easily, and I think it's something that, you know, even if it helps a family or makes a child feel safer just one time, or someone “That sells something, makes you feel safer, you know, that's it's worth it,” Strouse said.
Clearfield resident Chris Henry says he hasn't used the secure exchange zone but thinks it's a good idea.
“One time I bought a guy a coffee maker, a Keurig coffee maker, and he met me at the rest stop and pulled up like an old, beat-up Lincoln Continental and kind of scared me,” Henry said.
Henry says the sale went without a hitch, but he would like to have more certainty in future sales.
Senator Wayne Langerholc is the lead sponsor of the bill to create grants for municipalities to establish safe exchange zones. He said they could prevent tragedies like the one in Johnstown three years ago, when a woman was killed during an exchange on Facebook Marketplace.
Bellefonte also has a vault exchange location, but it goes a step further than the secure exchange zones. At the Center County Child Access Center, staff monitor exchanges and can intervene if necessary. The CAC opened in 2008 following a murder linked to the custody exchange in Mill Hall.
Safe exchange zones funded under the state Senate bill are not required to have trained staff on site. The bill, now up for passage in the state House of Representatives, would require safe exchange zones to have video surveillance, a “Safe Exchange Zone” sign with emergency numbers, and be within 100 feet of a local police department, the office of the County sheriffs and state trooper barracks must be located or an area with an “active public presence.”
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