Prior Lake Police Department designates surveilled meet-up area for buying, selling online

Prior Lake American

Sometimes, it’s best not to meet online strangers in the real world.

On the other hand, sometimes the Tinder conversation is too good not to go on a date, or those lantern lights on Craigslist have too good a price not to meet.

The Prior Lake Police Department is aiming to make such situations safer with a designated meet-up exchange area in the department parking lot on Dakota Street in Prior Lake — though you could plan a Tinder date in a police department parking lot if you really wanted to.

“The area will be under video surveillance 24 hours a day,” Interim Prior Lake Police Chief Booker Hodges said. “If you meet up with somebody, it’s good to meet up in a public location to where people can make these exchanges in a public format.”

The bright yellow signs were installed on Jan. 3 after a suggestion from the Community Safety Advisory Committee, though people could have technically used the parking lot for this purpose the whole time, Hodges said.

“We welcome people to come use our parking lot — it’s their parking lot,” Hodges said.

The signs bookend a section of the lot where surveillance cameras get a clear view. Even with the surveillance cameras and the proximity to literal crimefighters, Hodges said it’s best to plan exchanges when it’s light outside.

“I would still encourage people to do that during the daytime hours unless there’s some extenuating circumstances for meeting at night,” Hodges said. “It just makes more sense. We have a great camera system out there, but it’s just better to do it during the daytime hours.”