A protester holds up a sign as San Diego police officers adhere to a march on bicycles in June 2020. Image by Chris Stone

The person on the other close of the cell phone is asking for funds for the security of law enforcement officers.  It was not the regular automatic call, and hearing a human voice retained me on the line.

The caller said he was phoning on behalf of the Committee for Law enforcement Officers’ Defense.  Many voices could be listened to in the qualifications. It sounded like the solicitor was contacting from a “boiler home,” where individuals dial from a checklist of doing the job cellphone numbers. In this situation, the pitch was for money for “helping police officers in the continuing war against cops.”

As our dialogue ongoing, the caller would reduced the total of funding he was requesting. He initially solicited $95 and at some point explained he would acknowledge a $15 contribution as an offer of “’goodwill’ on my component. This would allow me a chance to  “talk to your wife” about thinking about more contributions. 

I afterwards uncovered the firm is primarily based in Fairfax, VA, and is a political motion committee, or PAC. Quoting from its web page, the “Committee for Police Officers’ Defense is a 527 Committee designed to seek out out radical prosecutors, judges and district attorneys.” Another firm is named on the web site as nicely — The Law enforcement Officers’ Protection Coalition.

In exploring the organizations, I identified quite a few comparable-sounding names for PACs raising funds for law enforcement officers. The Law enforcement Officers Defense Alliance, for case in point, lifted $3.2 million in 2020, and The American Law enforcement Officers Alliance raised $4.3 million. The resource of the funding details was OpenSecrets, a database that tracks expending in U.S. politics operate by the Heart for Responsive Politics.