Question??? Cop Solicitation?

[BigFish]

I just answered a call from a guy claimed to be with....I hope this is right or at least close....the Mass Policemens Association???? He was soliciting for donations for further training for police officers to "better protect them" during their duty?????? Don't we already pay taxes for this stuff?!?!?!?!?!? Maybe one of the guys who are "On The Job".....could shed some light on this? I have heard about scams like this???

[Bass Babe]

We always ask people to send us a letter in the mail, and then we will decide to donate or not. That tends to weed out the fakers.

[Raven]

yah do...
...is ask to write down their name...
and where they can be reached....

what did you tell them.....btw?

the thing that bugged me was being recorded during the call.

[BigFish]

Yah he said it was being recorded. I said I was not interested....sounded fishy to me!

[UserRemoved1]

Larry most of these guys are paid to solicit donations for this stuff, they take about 85% of what they receive as "overhead" costs.

There used to be one of these place in somerville in the basement of a place in davis square. some of them are real sleazy.

[riverrat55]

I tell everyone who calls and ask for money," That I do not give money out over the phone"!!! That weeds them out real quick!!!

[Karl F]

Tell them you will donate.. only if they train the staff at DD to better serve you, AND the police officers...



When they called me at work...
I asked the guy foor his name and badge number, and the name of his commanding officer... want to hear one loooooooong pause?.. they don't have the answer for that in the script.. I told him, "look, I'm busy, this is retail.. I'll call the local Chief, or Supervising officer tomorrow AM"... click.. dial tone... guess he was speechless...

I donate to the local Police Relief fund Direct.. no rip-off processing fees get deducted... I would think that Police Officers would be better served.. Firemen too, doing it direct like that, than hiring these sleazeball phone solicitors....

And I too, would like to hear from the guys on the job, on this one.

[BigFish]

Caller ID did not give me a number either....thought that was odd???

[afterhours]

Originally Posted by #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&

Larry most of these guys are paid to solicit donations for this stuff, they take about 85% of what they receive as "overhead" costs.

There used to be one of these place in somerville in the basement of a place in davis square. some of them are real sleazy.

what he said.

[Duke41]

I have rented space to these guys over the years and yes they are real. The part I am not sure of is how much dough actully gets to the cops. It is a huge business. One of my long term tennants is ALL PRO which is owned by Fred Smerlas of the Pats. These guys seem decent and they work long hours. I have a few others come and go. One company from a few years ago had the FBI after them. A strange business

[Sluggoslinger]

Originally Posted by riverrat55

I tell everyone who calls and ask for money," That I do not give money out over the phone"!!! That weeds them out real quick!!!

Ditto, I say we don't respond to telephone solicitation and please remove me from your list. If they push further, I get mean. I HATE telephone solicitaion.

[Diamond Tackle]

I dont give them squat.They keep most of the $, yout local police get maybe 50% , if that. And now these A-hole boiler room solicitors call you by your first name like you're old friends or something.
I told one guy, "hey, my police staion is less than 2 miles away, so I will come over and hand you a check in person right now for $100", where exactly are u located? He paused, and then said I could not do that, cause he was in freakin Texas .... end of that conversation.
Dont give them jack, go to the police station and ask how you can contribute to widows and orphans or whatever, and you will make a cop friend in the process, which is always nice.

[PaulS]

most of them are sleazy boilerroom operations that as stated keep almost all the money. Recently I was called to donate $ for the "defense of police falsely accused while on the job". I asked why the city doesn't defend them - the guy was sputtering like a old motor.

[Swimmer]

One thing you have to remember Larry its illegal to solicit money over the phone in Massachusetts.

And nobody in the MPA pays for any training, nada, for any cops. The National Association of Government Employees which is the parent organization of the of the international brotherhood of police officers, which is related to and the parent orgaization of the MPA. The MPA is kind of the social arm of the aforementioned groups. The only thing any money will go to that is donated to MPA is the annual convention. For them to say it helps pay for field training is an absolute lie. It might help pay for a seminar at the convention but that is all.

[BigFish]

Thanks Frank! I knew the officers on this site would set it straight....thanks guys!

For the record I am all for giving to charities and what not.....sometimes though you have to wonder?

[Slingah]

Originally Posted by BigFish

For the record I am all for giving to charities and what not.....:

good...I am from the "Help-A-Brother Out With Some Plugs" charitiy
please check your pm's for the address to send your donations

[Katie]

we get that all the time... we just tell them no thanks and not to call again... but they call back 4 hours later... then they get to deal with really bad music. and we haven't recieved a call from them in awhile.

[Backbeach Jake]

Originally Posted by BigFish

Caller ID did not give me a number either....thought that was odd???

It's 911, silly!

[BW from AZ]

they know no bounds, called me all the way out here this afternoon.
no thanks and i hang up.