The Marshalltown Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has severed ties with the organization it contracted with to help with its fundraising efforts for programs like “Shop with a Cop.”

Over the weekend, officers/executive board members of the FOP, issued an apology via a letter to the editor in the Times-Republican.

The letter stated that during this year’s fundraising campaign for the second half of 2016 “we were made aware of some issues that were very troubling to us. For our campaign, the FOP hires a third-party company to make the phone calls and collect the donations. The employees of this company are neither FOP members, nor members of any law enforcement entity. The FOP has been using this company for a few years now and has had minimal complaints, all of which were easily addressed during those past campaigns.

“We did receive a few complaints at the beginning of the campaign, which were promptly addressed in-person with the on-site supervisor of the company and better-practice measures were implemented moving forward. Despite those efforts, complaints slowly started to occur more frequently and were more troubling. It was eventually decided that the campaign would be cut short and ties with the company would be terminated, due to the totality of the situation.”

Paul Heitman, secretary/treasurer of the FOP and an officer with the Marshalltown Police Department, told the T-R that complaints from the public noted that the third-party company, CJW Inc., a telemarketing company based in Port Clinton, Ohio, indicated the company was “very pushy” is asking for donations.

Heitman said there were also concerns that some donors may have had the impression they were speaking with an actual member of the MPD and felt uncomfortable in that if they “didn’t donate that they weren’t being supportive” of the police department.

“After about a one-week period, we received a bunch of complaints … and that’s when we said this had gone too far. It’s giving us a bad name, tarnishing our image. At that point, we just needed to stop,” Heitman said.

In an interview with the T-R, Ed Wiza of CJW, apologized for what transpired.

“I’m very sorry about that,” he said. “I just wish (the MPD) the best of luck.”

Wiza said no one was authorized or encouraged to identified themselves as a police officer; he said there was just one person who was making the calls on behalf of the Marshalltown FOP and that “he is no longer employed” with CJW.

“Again, Marshalltown has some great people – these cops are out there just trying to support the public and support underprivileged kids,” he said.

Heitman said the FOP had worked with CJW the past 2-3 years and that the first year and a half produced “great customer service. All of sudden, the complaints just snowballed” and the agreement was terminated.

This situation has prompted the FOP to hold off on contracting with any other companies to conduct telemarketing efforts in raising money in the future.

“We are very hesitant to consider any third parties at this time,” said Heitman, adding the FOP will meet soon to discuss how they plan on raising funds in early 2017 but noting it will not likely be through a traditional phone campaign.

“We just don’t want to lose supporters over this,” he said.

Those with any concerns about the FOP’s most recent fundraising campaign are encouraged to call FOP members Heitman, Casee Veren or Kraig Lageschulte at 641-754-5725.

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Contact Jeff Hutton at 641-753-6611 or jhutton@timesrepublican.com