The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office has again been contacted by several concerned citizens about phone calls they have been receiving soliciting donations for the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and Lake City Police Department.
Your state, county and local law enforcement agencies are publicly funded and will never solicit donations from the community. A fraternal law enforcement organization may state that any donations they receive will benefit the agencies; however, none of this money is returned to our local law enforcement agencies. However, the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranches is an endorsed charity by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and may send you a packet by mail but will never solicit funds via telephone.
The Florida Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Consumer Services is currently investigating these solicitations. Sheriff Hunter asks that you request the packet to be sent via mail. You are then asked to call the Consumer Services Hotline at 1-800-435-7352 to report the solicitation. The contractors that are making these calls are not in the local community and their call centers do not receive incoming calls.
