The Polk County Sheriff’s Office’s parking lot has a designated “Meetup Spot” where people can safely meet to exchange purchases made online.

The safe exchange signs indicate two spaces for this purpose in the Sheriff’s Office’s front parking lot at 164 Government Complex Drive in Columbus.

The “Meetup Spot” sign was donated for the parking lot by the online marketplace OfferUp about 18 months ago.

Sheriff Tim Wright was happy to accept the sign to mark a safe location for Internet purchase exchanges because of the steady increases over the past few years in Internet purchases on platforms such as OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace.

The entire parking lot at the Sheriff’s Office also is under 24-hour video surveillance and provides a safe location for property and child custody exchanges around the clock.

Sheriff Wright encourages everyone to practice safety when shopping online to avoid fraud, deceit and theft, especially during the holiday season.