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Who's on the Line for Police Solicitations?

Recently, the Deep River Resident Trooper's Office has received many calls from local citizens wanting to know if certain non-profit police organizations are legitimate and whether or not they should donate money to that organization. If these organizations tell you that your donation will go to benefit your local resident trooper or local police department, this is not true. The Connecticut State Police, local resident trooper, and the Deep River Police do not solicit donations of any kind.

The latest trend is that the large police associations will contract with a telemarketing agency to raise money to support their group. If your readers do make a donation, they should please keep in mind that a portion of their donation is going directly to the telemarketing company to offset its operating costs and the remainder will go to the police organization. Most of the time, these organizations are statewide or even nationwide, so the money is not being used to support the local police department.

My suggestion if someone is contacted by a telemarketing company asking him or her to donate to a police association is to ask them to give a telephone number at which to call them back and tell them that you are going to do some research on the organization that they are soliciting for. If after residents have researched the association and feel that it is a worthwhile association, then it's their choice whether or not to make a donation. If they are unsure, they are welcome to call my office at 860-526-6027.

Christopher Cope

Deep River Resident Trooper