There is a company that operates out of Virginia Beach, VA, that raises money for a variety of police organizations. They raise money for the Newport News Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Police Pipes and Drums, Norfolk Police Union, Virginia Beach Police Benvolent Association (PBA), and the Chesapeake Fraternal of Police (FOP). This organization that makes the phone calls hires and employs criminals to solicit the money over the phone. By criminals I mean these individuals have either been convicted of tax evasion or pedophilia and there are even people that are strung out on various drugs while making these calls. It's ironic that these individuals work for an organization that is supposed to be raising money for the police when in fact they are everything opposite of what the police stand for. Aside from the individuals who make the calls, only a mere 15% to 20% of whatever the donation is, is actually given to the various police organizations. The rest of the money that is raised is distributed amongst the owner, manager, and solicitor. The pay scale is typically broken down so that the owner makes 45%, the manager makes 15%, and the solicitor makes 25%. Anything left of the donation that is recieved is given to the police organization.
I would like to think that if the general public truly knew that a police organization has a professional fundraising company soliciting donations for them, that the people in the community would simply give their donation to either an officer directly or carry their check to their local precinct. Committing to pledge a certain amount of money over the phone these days is extremely risky, especially because there are a lot of organizations out there, such as the one that I have mentioned. Our economy is in a recession and I feel it is imperative that the general public knows exactly where there are hard earned money is going.
