The Policeman Never Rings for Your Money

There are many reasons the Los Angeles Police Department may call a private citizen--but never to ask for charity.

The department does not do telemarketing, authorities say.

Just recently the Los Angeles Police Commission received complaints from citizens about an organization claiming to be raising money for widows and orphans of slain LAPD officers.

But the department is not associated with that or any other such group, said Art Mattox, vice president of the Board of Police Commissioners, which handles complaints about misleading telemarketing for the LAPD.

“To me it’s one of the worst exploitations,” he said.

But the use by telephone solicitors of the LAPD’s identity to raise money “happens on a daily basis,” he said. “It’s a multimillion, for-profit enterprise.”

There are two problems, police say. The first involves flat-out crooks, not associated with any organization, who randomly call houses, said Det. Dan DeBellis of the Police Commission Investigations division, which tracks 57 city businesses licensed by the commission.

He said such cases are difficult to prosecute because most such swindlers quickly appear at the door of donors to collect, and then shut down the operation within minutes or hours--making them nearly impossible for authorities to track.

But there is a second sort of telemarketer that stops just short of the line between legal and fraudulent fund-raising, authorities say.

The commission licenses 14 organizations to raise funds for charities of their choice.

A commission licensing regulation requires that 90% of the top membership of such organizations be retired police officers or firefighters, DeBellis said. The law allows them to use the words “police” or “firefighters” in their name.

The groups are often profitable because the law also allows them to keep money to cover operational costs--and the average amount they keep is about 85%, DeBellis said.

The groups hire professional telemarketers and frequently change their pitches, he said. One week they may say the money will be used to help children on drugs. Another week it may be to help kids with cancer.

Though there are police departments elsewhere in the state that allow such groups to raise money for them, the LAPD and the Los Angeles Fire Department do not, DeBellis said. “Anyone who uses our name is breaking the law,” he said.

So the groups often simply use the word “police” without specifically saying “Los Angeles police,” making it difficult to take legal action.

The phone call recipients cannot recall exactly what was said. Hearing the word “police,” they presume the solicitor means the money is for the LAPD as their local police department.

The telemarketers “will make comments like, ‘Hey, you support the police, don’t you?’ ” DeBellis said.

Though seldom has the commission taken legal action against such organizations, it has contacted them after receiving complaints.

People contacted by such organizations should ask for the number of the solicitor’s police permit, which can be used to make complaints to the commission, authorities said.

Mattox warned that, legal or not, fund-raising by such organizations is mainly a profit-making operation, of little or no benefit to Los Angeles police officers and firefighters.

“I am completely opposed to them,” he said.