Beware your phone calls

“Mrs. Powells?”

“May I ask who’s calling?”

“This is [blankety blank] representing the Los Angeles County Fraternal Order Of Police. We would like to thank you by sending you this card, make sure you sign it right away. Now, we are in the middle of our fund raising drive and would a pledge of $25 or $50 work for you?”

“I’m sorry, I used to report on a police department. I was told never to believe solicitors who say they are police officers, asking for money and that police officers always fund raise in person.”

“Oh, well, ma’am, I’m not a police officer. I’m representing a professional organization fundraising on behalf of the Fraternal Order of Police.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, and….”

“Thank you, but if I feel the need to support my Los Angeles County police departments or sheriff’s departments, I’ll do so in person.”

Ever get these phone calls? The conversation didn’t necessarily go over the way I wrote it, but its close enough. My mom tells me all the time she gets them, from people representing fire departments. I covered at least one or two stories while in Glendale, in which police officers and firefighters said they do not solicit donations over the phone, but only in person.

Now, I was not rude to the guy, but I had already said I was not home to this type of call once, and I wanted to nip it in the bud. But my question for the LAPD and LAFD (and maybe even the LASD and the LACFD) — do you guys solicit over the phone? Because it would sure be nice to get this cleared up once and for all — I always feel bad recommending that people hang up on phone fund raising solicitors.

2 thoughts on “Beware your phone calls

  1. My understanding is that the LAPD NEVER solicits over the phone. I believe the same is true for the LAFD.

  2. I recently got a call from the Fraternal Order of Police, and even the wording was almost the same as described above. It annoyed me, because they seem to use the word “police” to try and trick people into making donations. I also got a letter requesting the $25 pledge that I allegedly agreed to, and it asks me to make sure to pay by a certain deadline so they don’t have to send a reminder notice. I must suspect that these people hope to thus mislead some people into thinking that they “have” to pay. Very strange to me and hardly acceptable as a fundraising strategy.

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