Why do police stations or sheriff offices ask for donations on the phone?

Question

Pittsburgh, PA:

Am I missing something? Is there a voluntary police department? Don't the taxes pay for the police force?

Where does all of the money from drug busts go? And those tickets?

I just saw on the news (last month), that the local police found 2.5 million dollars in drug CASH, at an apartment, and they said it would go toward improving the police department and associated doings.

What is this money for that they call us on the phone and beg for a donation? Their fraternal fund, so they can have Christmas parties? I belong to a union too, but don't ask for money. We get what we earn, and there isn't enough for retirement or other expenses, we have to "eat it ourselves".

I just had a similar phone call 2 days ago, from the narcotics department. They wanted donations too. Surely they drug money from busts... ...right?

One guy who called, in November, said 'F-U' to my wife and hung the phone up, after she refused to donate. She told him 3 time, "no".

Answer 1

Money from tickets and drug busts go back into the general Government operating funds, not just for the police department but for the whole government. In my city, parking ticket revenue is used to pay for street cleaning, traffic lights, road repairs, etc. So the money goes back to the Government just like regular income does, but it doesn't always go back to the police.

There are a lot of shady "charities" out there that use the name of the police or sherriff and you should check any charity you donate to out carefully before you do. Not just police-related ones!

For the legitimate police-related charities, donated money often goes to scholarships for children of fallen officers; aid or assistance to families of fallen officers; aid for officers who become disabled in the line of duty; and community programs. Programs like the Police Boys and Girls Clubs recieve very little money from the government itself and rely on donations to be able to operate.

As for rude telemarketers, the police rarely work the phones themselves and subcontract that out to the same folks who call for political campaigns, Direct TV, you name it. I just hang up on the rude ones if they don't take no for an answer.

Answer 2

They ask for donations for a lot of reasons. For example, to aid families of fallen police, firemen, etc in the line of duty that is not allowed for in their insurance. A lot of police collect old abandoned bikes all yr then fix them up and distribute them to needy kids at Christmas. This is all out of pocket. There is nothing allowed in their budget for needy kids or parts or paint for the bikes. Tax record can be viewed publicily. Take a look at the records sometimes and see how many people are delinquent in paying. You can't work with a budget from taxes if people are skipping out on paying their fair share. As far as the indecency on the phone, I would report that immediately. It may have been a crank call too. There are a lot of scams going on today to get money. ALSO, how many police do you think find that much money every day in a drug bust. They DO confiscate cars, etc. and DO use them but figure how many cars a police dept may go through in a year. something on the road that much aint gonna last forever. Sometimes it is the drug dealers or other criminals that cause the vehicle to become inoperative. It may get shot at, wrecked in a chase, etc. They are just replacing it from the criminals who caused it in the first place. Sometimes fate works differently too. I know of a vehicle that our local police confiscated in a drug bust some yrs. ago. When the guy got out of jail, he found out who was driving the vehicle and blew it up one evening while it was parked. It was a 4 wheel drive Blazer.

Answer 3

Good question. I'm a reserve police officer in Texas. Let me explain. The money and assets that are seized don't belong to the police department, they belong to the city government and the city can spend those funds however they want. Often, the police want either training or tools that their department might not be getting them that they feel they need to do a better job. For example, our department didn't have enough for tasers but we got donations and now our officers carry them.

Rudeness and profanity have no place and it was not right for anyone, especially someone representing a law enforcement agency to say something like that to you or your wife.

tis better to get tasered than shot... :-)

Bottom line: Mismanagement of tax dollars doesn't always get the poice department what they need so they ask the people for donations so that they can.

Answer 4

I question that too and they get your attention by acting like it's a legitimate call identifying themselves as the Sheriffs Office and not by saying this is a solicitation call to benefit the sheriffs office. I used to get those calls until I went digital and wasn't in the system for major phone companies. All of the solicitation calls stopped. You can file a complaint with the donotcall.gov agency and fines will be brought against them. As for the person who cursed your wife you can call the FCC or BBB and file a report with them and the head office for the agency too. It's just a matter of working to eliminate the problem.

Answer 5

They don't. Those are boiler room operations masquerading as some sort of "benevolent" group for the benefit of the police. For the most part, about 5¢ of every donation ever winds up benefiting police officers or their families. The vast majority of the funds collected line the pockets of the boiler room operators.

Answer 6

They don't, it's a scam to get you to give. I asked the Sheriffs depart. and a State Trouper and they say they don't do that.
I use to get calls that claimed to be from the State Troupers, wanting donations to their pension fund, the same guy called later
for donations for the youth services and they both gave me the
same address to send the donations to, which was i Birmingham, AL and the State Troupers are in Montgomery, AL

Answer 7

Well obviously they arent getting the funds if they need to ask for donations. Also things come up that might need repairing. And the money from tickets funds the town. Maybe the towns commitee is cracking down on the police dept and not giving them money for things they need....

Answer 8

yea thats a scam... the police departments usually dont do that. and if you get a call like that *69 it or call the police n say what happend then they will take care of it. my grandma got a call like that n the person called her a c*nt and that she didnt diserve to be called a veteran even tho she was in the Canadian Navy during WW2. or you can just hang up on those people like everyone else does. lol. i hang up on them all the time

Answer 9

Just one headline: "Colorado Police Protective Association Telemarketing uses lies and threats to get you to donate. ripoff. Colorado Springs Colorado *Consumer Suggestion ..Police do not solicit donations usually...."

There's tons of scams on the internet. Search for "police donation telemarketing" you'll find lots.

Answer 10

Well because they can. Once you donate you get a sticker that you can put on your car. If your pulled over and the offense isn't serious you will likely get a warning. They usually use this money to help families of fallen officers.