One of the seemingly fastest growing ways to sell or buy gently-used items in today’s society is on a Facebook yard sale page.

If you haven’t seen one or do not use Facebook, yard sale pages are nifty places you can go to search for local items that you may need, sold by people you most likely know of, at least.

However, one of the dangers with those type of pages are connecting with people you are not familiar with. Sure, they may seem nice and just want to sell some items laying around their house that are not being used. But, one should we careful when using the pages because there are people out there only using them to lure others into traps — whether it be kidnapping or stealing, it could happen.

That is why we love the new exchange zone that the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office has recently created. The exchange zone is a safe place — located directly in front of the sheriff’s office — where local buyers and sellers can come to publicly meet and exchange their goods. There is even a 24-hour surveillance camera located at the site to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.

The Gazette commends the sheriff’s office for continuing to work hard to bring the citizens of Charlotte County a safer community.

The exchange zone is just one example of the dedication the office has to the county, and we thank Sheriff Thomas Jonas and his staff for all that they do.