The National Police Association advocates Support the Police, and Back the Blue, because Blue Lives Matter. Our grassroots organization was formed under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, which allows us to engage in political activity. As a result, he had a positive outlook on military and all law enforcement officers, Busse said, but he never expressed any particular interest in supporting the police through financial donations.. They improvise and evolve to stay one step ahead of unsuspecting donors. Our movement is comprised of tens of thousands of Americans from all walks of life who are joined together by their common . If you get one of these calls, do not donate money just hang . National Association of Police Athletic/Activities Leagues. A profit according to Investopedia.com is revenue that exceeds expenses. Phony Firefighters Scam. In fact, they count on the confusion to gather contributions. While some donors believe they are donating to . Email Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken. Getting 3 to 5 calls a day from 315-410-0874 phone number. : r/Scams. POLICING THE MOST DANGEROUS CITY IN THE COUNTRY: What do Chicago's LEO's and citizens think? After I rejected he offered some booster donations of 15,25, 35 dollars to Goodwill or other organizations. On 11/4 another local call came it was the same man! Type of a scam Charity. Please note that many legitimate local (and unaffiliated) police foundations and organizations may solicit donations from local communities via telephone and mail. Please do your homework and avoid scams and misleading appeals for your hard-earned money.. What they do: ThePolice Unity Tour raises funds and awareness for members of law enforcement who lost their lives during their service. On each call, my questions about how donations got spent mostly went unanswered. But the groups file financial disclosures with federal regulators under only a handful of names. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. The Committee for Police Officers Defense, the telemarketers who called me, applied for tax exemption in California. . But other charities lie about what they do with donations or how much they spend on programs. These callers typically use language that suggests they are charities raising money directly for local police. At times, I thought they were maybe misguided, he said. I feel they abuse their use of the name to maybe convey a false sense to the community about who they are and what they really do with the money.. All Rights Reserved. And the Morton Police Department in Illinois posted on Facebook about calls from a mysterious phone number with a local area code last year. Discovery Company. If it is a scam they are awfully convincing on the phone but are also rather forceful. I told him that I had some questions for him before I would donate. He said that although it is more expensive for super PACs to solicit small donations which is what this one is doing spending so much on operations and so little on political activities is unusual. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. In a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, another woman, whose name was redacted, said she received multiple calls from the National Coalition for Police and Troopers, one of the super PACs various aliases. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. We support police officers who risk their lives daily protecting our communities. For the record, on their website, it never calls itself a charity or non . Legitimate charities can be checked on websites such as www.guidestar.org. Ask if the donation is tax-deductible. AARP Membership - LIMITED TIME FLASH SALE. The latter is the name of the PAC I found earlier that had raised $3.2 million in contributions. You read that correctly. President Trump pardoned the sheriff even after the Department of Justice described Arpaio as being responsible for the worst case of racial profiling in U.S. history. But none of the money being raised actually goes to police departments, according to government records. In about 7 years (through March 2018), the union and relief fund spent a total of approximately $102.3 million, of which $82.3 million went towards fundraising. It wasnt the usual automated call, and hearing a human voice kept me on the line. Continuously redirected to the toll free number provided which cut out each time it was listed. Only one replied directly: 90 percent went to fundraising, and 10 percent went to police support. I have asked 5 times to be removed from their call list, but they are still constantly calling, at this point it is harassment and it needs to STOP! Years later, as the success of the . Recently, the District Attorney's office was made aware of calls from nearby area codes claiming to support local officers injured in the line of duty. 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The group's videos have received few views, but money has been pouring in. And cops are facing increasing disrespect on the streets as criminals have become emboldened by the wave of anti-cop rhetoric in the news media and by many politicians. Our officers deserve our respect and support, the Super PACs website reads. I asked him where the money goes. For more information, please see our He organized the Police Unity Tour as a fundraising event to honor members of law enforcement who had lost their lives in the line of service. It also concerned him that so many prospects were elderly. Learn about the latest anti-police movement, Download our 2022 police ballot measures analysis, Download our 2022 law enforcement support guide, Virginia Election Ad by National Police Support Fund, Pro-Police Organizations Worked Together to Get Out the Vote & Boosts Conservative Turnout in NoVa, https://nationalpolicesupportfund.com/terms-of-service/. How a donation will be used, or how much of the donation actually goes to the charitys programs. The man on the other end of the phone is asking for money for the protection of police officers. "The words police and words firefighter are not trademarked," Kemerer explained, "so it is very easy for scammers to use those names and create fake organizations. It said callers were soliciting support for police officers but that the group was actually connected to a political action committee. The organization also has a Gold Seal of Transparency from GuideStar. Do You Have To Call The Police After An Accident, How Long Does It Take To Get Into Police Academy, How Many People Were Killed By Police In 2020, Where To File A Police Report For Car Accident. I said no i was told I would be sent a pledge form. Published I later learned the organization is based in Fairfax, VA, and is a political action committee, or PAC. For example, a very well known and respected group is the Make a Wish Foundation. Money donated to this group might be used for political purposes and will not be used for direct help to police or troopers, Fox wrote. Required fields are marked *. It appears there are a number of nonprofits up and running under the apparent control of Fotis. I asked if the donation was tax-deductible and he said no but could not elaborate as to why that was. AiThority Interview with Lori Anne, Director of Product Development & Management at Verizon, Branded Caller ID: The Pros And Cons In The Battle Against Phone Scams, A New Scam Is Making the Rounds Just in Time for Tax Season, Smishing: The new year is here and so are new scams. But whats the truth. I asked them to mail me a bill instead and they did , I called the phone number on the letter and did not get a respond so I decided to go to their website . If they are PACs, the fundraising effort is politically motivated and wont necessarily support San Diego-area officers or deputies or their families. The charitys affiliation with the government. Ask for information, check sites like Charitynavigator.org and then if it all checks out, write that check. Gas station secured small business bailout money, then paid for Trump billboards, After learning from CNN that his 92-year-old father had given $1,200 to the super PAC, Curt Busse said that the donations were made as his fathers cognitive skills declined, making him a prime target for telemarketers. Operators who are so susprised it's scam. We found a website for them, but it gives very little information about the organization and their mission. Tax records show the Fotis organization that phoned me raised $75,000 in 2021, up from $50,000 the year before. Hope Cancer Fund The Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting broke the charities up into five main categories: children, cancer, police/law enforcement, veterans, fire and other. It appears their lack of transparency regarding where the money goes was the reason for the BBB caution. The fund is a real nonprofit organization, but it is a political group created "primarily to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates to federal, state or local public office. Individual officers can also become members, according to its website. Ive become suspicious after reading what they had to say . Our movement is comprised of tens of thousands of Americans from all walks of life who are joined together by their common respect for the rule of law and united in their support for the police officers who put their lives on the line every day in their communities. Charities face relatively rigorous review from the Internal Revenue Service, and most states require them to register before they can operate there. She said she was told the group was a charity benefiting police and troopers. Law enforcement has a tough enough job without having to put up with charlatans masquerading as heroes. You can find more information about "who is the National Police Support . A special program within the International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO.Speaking With One Voice, Moving With One Purpose. Now those same anarchists that rioted and assaulted law enforcement officers are using the Taliban playbook by destroying public statues and monuments while advocating for defunding law enforcement agencies, a narrator states in a video from July, as protests continued across the country. The websites describe his career in law enforcement and his role as the creator of the police officers safety act legislation carried by former San Diego Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham. Many legitimate charities support local firefighters and police, active duty military, and veterans, or their families. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription toAARP The Magazine. Go to their website and give there or call the number listed. I recently took about a dozen of these police-support calls to hear the pitches. He initially solicited $95 and eventually said he would accept a $15 contribution as an offer of goodwill on my part. Now, the last thing I want to do is discourage you from giving to causes you care about, like supporting police. These are Americas heroes. Videos on its site show cities in flames and say that officers have been injured during what the group describes as riots presumably referring to recent Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. . Charity hustles work the same way. California resident Kellie Van Westen, 69, said she has family members who are law enforcement officers and that she believed the roughly $1,400 she donated since 2019 would help bolster local police budgets and pay for equipment to keep them safe.. The I.U.P.A. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. The union has previously come under fire for hiring allegedly deceptive telemarketers and costly fundraising efforts that benefited its own organization and a police charity it operates. National Police Defense Foundation has earned a 81% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. The former employee, who asked to remain anonymous because of a nondisclosure agreement, said he remembered fundraising companies outsourcing some of the telemarketing overseas to locations like the Philippines, where they relied on recordings instead of live agents. That is equivalent to 2.7 percent of the $2.7 million the organization raised from donors that year, according to its federal tax return. The recording says it is "Kenneth Allen from the National Police Support Fund" and they are asking for donations. Each organization says it is spending money for police officers being abused and unfairly targeted. The Arizona Fraternal Order of Police is a real organization, but protect yourself and ask questions when you receive calls like these. Another telemarketing employee reached by CNN in the Philippines confirmed this, saying he solicited money on behalf of the super PAC and the IUPA using audio recordings of someone who sounded like they were actually calling from America, and that most of the people they reached were elderly adding he felt it was a scam because they didnt realize what they were actually donating to. The solution, the letter says, is clear: Give our law enforcement officers the crime prevention tools they need. Law Enforcement for a Safer America does not disclose on its website who is running the super PAC, but public filings reveal that leaders of one of the countrys largest police unions are pulling the strings. The answer is that, in many cases, these arent charities at all. The National Policing Institute, a national, Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization dedicated to advancing policing through science and innovation, has received information from several individuals who have been contacted by solicitors asking for donations in support of the "National Policing Institute," or in some cases the "National Police Fund," which we are not affiliated . The Better Business Bureau says if anyone calls or knocks asking you to help the police, the best thing you can do is ask them for information before you agree to donate. Dont send your money to a national group collecting for causes that may not always be clear.