City creates ‘safe zone’ for Internet transactions

The policy will set up an “Internet Safe Sale and Exchange Zone” in the visitor parking lot at Daly City Hall.

While most of the transactions are safe, there have been instances when online exchanges have led to robbery or even murder.

In 2013, Daly City resident Ikenna Uwakah used Craigslist to arrange the sale of a video game console in San Francisco’s Bayview District. He was shot multiple times, however, at the location he agreed to meet the buyer. The suspect, Ronnie Collins, was jailed on suspicion of murder after Uwakah, 22, died later in a hospital.

Another man, Rommell Navarez of San Francisco, allegedly set up fake Craigslist ads and then robbed people at gunpoint of their cellphones.

The safe zone will be equipped with new high-definition cameras that provide 24-hour surveillance.

The safe zones have been implemented at police stations all over the United States. The Clovis Police Department was one of the first to set it up in California.

The department dedicates two stalls in the parking lot with surveillance cameras monitoring the transactions.

“The expense is minimal and the value to the community is great,” Clovis police Cpl. Jared Binford previously told the Daily Journal.

The proposal was Vice Mayor David Canepa’s idea.

“The purpose of implementing this essential community resource is to enhance the safety and well-being of residents who are meeting each other in person to complete Internet sales transactions. It is a community benefit and has been well utilized in other jurisdictions throughout the United States,” Canepa wrote in a statement.

Craigslist also recommends its users to insist on a public meeting place like a cafe, bank or shopping center, especially when buying or selling high value items.

The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office has recently prosecuted individuals after using Craigslist to allegedly commit a crime.

The most recent was of Matthew Bakun, a San Francisco resident who arranged to buy a motorcycle from a South San Francisco man for $5,500. Bakun told the victim he was a cop and asked to test drive the motorcycle. He borrowed the victim’s helmet, hopped on the Honda CBR 600 and never returned.

He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years in jail.

One of the more famous local Craigslist robberies is of the man who advertised medical marijuana for sale on the site.

Jiahang Li agreed to meet a buyer at a McDonald’s in San Carlos and was allegedly robbed at gunpoint of 2 pounds of marijuana, his cellphone and car. He called police claiming he was in a medical marijuana collective but ended up being charged himself.