By Elle Wood

MILFORD — To enhance safety for residents undertaking online purchase interactions or child custody swaps, the Milford Police Department installed an exchange zone in its parking lot last week.

The agency, at 401 N.E. Front St., modeled the effort after other departments’ areas.

“I know that we worked with the Seaford Police Department. They had previously put them in,” Sgt. Timothy Maloney said. “It had been brought to our attention by one of our sergeants about some other law enforcement agencies statewide and through the country that have put those spots available for the community to use.”

Milford’s exchange zone has been discussed for a while, he added, but with the opening of a new headquarters in December 2023, the opportunity became available.

“The idea had come up several years ago, but due to our limited space at our old building, it just wasn’t feasible at that time to put these spaces in place,” Sgt. Maloney said. “But now that we have a lot larger parking lot and better surveillance capabilities, we were able to move forward with this initiative.”

The parking spots are under surveillance by officers at all times, to ensure safety for both parties during exchanges.

The zone was announced by the department on social media Tuesday, and Sgt. Maloney said the post had reached over 54,000 people as of Monday afternoon.

He said officers hope that the good feedback continues.

“We believe that it will have a very positive impact on the community,” the sergeant continued. “Just with us posting it on our social media, it has gotten a lot of positive community support, and the community is very much excited to use those spots.”

For information, visit milfordpolicede.org.