The Consumerist had a post that struck a nerve and reminded me of one of the most insidious scams around.

I recently have been victimized by telemarketers identifying themselves as parties involved with the Richmond police department. On two separate occasions, the requests for donations far exceeded any norm that i have ever experienced. It’s appalling to think that these are individuals representing police officers that I respect and support in every way I possibly can.

Most people have come to realize that those phone calls where solicitors claim to be from your local police union  are nothing more than paid telemarketers whose only connection to the cops is three priors.  They come on very strong, pushing any button they can to scare the crap out of the unwary.   The cops get 3 cents out of every dollar raised, if anything at all.  It is a scam of the worst order.

The problem is that this is such a psychologically effective scam that it sucks huge numbers of people into it out of fear.  There is an implicit threat that if you refuse to give money, the cops will know.  You, John Smith of 12 Maple Lane, have turned your back on your police.  And they, Mr. Smith, will remember you.  We know who you are.  We know that you refused to help.  We will remember.

Is there anyone out there who, should the need for police protection arise, wants the responding officer to say, “Oh yeah, I remember John Smith, the guy who refused to donate to the widows and orphans fund, who turned his back on cops, who hates us.”  I know that I wouldn’t want that running through the officer’s head as my life was endangered.

Worse yet, some smaller departments actually run this internally, sending out letters or making phone calls to residents within their small jurisdictions directly soliciting donations.  If people are worried about being singled out by a telemarketer’s call, the threat is 1000 times worse when you get a letter from a real cop in your real little town who actually knows who you are.  How do you say no to this?

So why do they do this?  Why do police unions allow this scam to happen under their name? 

I’ve asked the question of a number of cop friends.  They all respond with that sheepish look of embarrassment.  They know darn well what they are trying to pull off.  They know that this ploy is intended to play off people’s fears that they won’t run too fast to save them if they don’t pony up some cash.  That’s the point.  They want the cash.  It’s all about getting money.

Not a single cop ever suggested that they would ever, ever fail to do their job because someone refused to donate.  Indeed, they go to great pains to insist that donations have zero to do with anything.  In other words, it’s a totally empty threat, that the failure to contribute “might” result in a little slower response should you ever need a cop.  I absolutely believe this to be true.  No cop is going to let someone dangle because they didn’t donate to the union.

But I despise the scam.  It abuses their position, and extorts “donations” by way of implicit threat, or explicit in the case of some of the worst telemarketers.  I refuse to donate.  When the telemarketers call, I say a few choice words, then hang up.  When the real cops ask, I remind them that I pay a fortune in taxes and if they can’t make it on that, they need to find new jobs.  I will not be threatened into donating money to anything.  I contribute out of choice, not fear.

I hope you do the same.