Law enforcement agencies across the country (including the Cass County Sheriff’s Office), have issued warnings with regard to schemes aimed at playing on emotions for the “Blue Lives Matter” movement. The schemes involve telemarketers who often target elderly donors. The callers claim to be from a variety of generic and similar-sounding alias organizations, such as The Police Officers Support Association, the National Emergency Responders Coalition and the National Coalition for Police & Troopers.

Many donors say they believed they were supporting a charity that helps local officers. But none of the money being raised actually goes to police departments, according to government records. Instead, their contributions end up with a super PAC, Law Enforcement for a Safer America, which has ties to a controversial union and spends the majority of its money on its own operating costs.

At least seven local police departments from around the country and a state attorney general have issued “scam alerts” and other notices about these fundraising efforts, warning residents in their communities as recently as this summer that they have no affiliation with this group.