In an effort to prevent robberies, the Department of Public Safety has opened its lobby to facilitate Craigslist transactions.
Students will be able to exchange goods and money in the DPS headquarters on North 16th Street without an appointment. Transactions may be made at any time at the office’s front desk, which is always under surveillance and manned by a DPS officer.
According to DPS Chief Russell Shaw, the decision to open up DPS offices reflects a similar policy created by the Milwaukee Police Department in response to an increasing number of Craigslist-related robberies in the past month. According to a Jan. 23 article by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, six such robberies occurred during a period from roughly late December to late January, all within MPD’s District 7, which includes a large area north of the Marquette campus.
The crimes involve online classified ads where Craigslist users, looking to buy or sell property, were robbed of their valuables after being tricked into meeting at secluded locations. Last year, a 39-year-old Milwaukee man posing as a Marquette student paid for several electronic devices with counterfeit bills. When one of his victims noticed the fraud, the suspect pulled out a gun and fled. With the assistance of DPS, the man was later arrested at his Sherman Street home, where police found large amounts of stolen goods and fake cash.
DPS is hoping to prevent future incidents by providing a “safe haven” for students to make their transactions. But for students who may not want to go to the office, Shaw said the deal should be made in a public location where other people can keep track of what is happening.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with, so obviously you have to make your situation and your environment as safe as you possibly can,” Shaw said. “I think that by doing that, if you’re not going to go to DPS or a police station, meet somebody at a very, very, very public area where there are a lot of people.”
“Never have them come to your residence,” he added. “Never have them come to an apartment building and have them meet you at a hallway somewhere. Make it as public as you possibly can if you’re not going to use our facility.”