27 replies to this topic

[jetgirl2000]

The VAST majority of solicitors do not have permits from the city, which is part of the reason FPD encourages you to call them. Certainly if someone is suspicious you should call the police. I'm not sure where you're getting your info, but I've been told this repeatedly as part of the city's Neighborhood Watch program. There are people who pose as solicitors who canvass homes for break-ins in addition to scamming folks.

I guess I wasnt very clear w my reply. The suspicious part, yes! call the police. The police cannot stop people from soliciting or being aggressive who have valid city permits. The city is issuing these permits at will now to make money from what code enforcement is saying. Bottom line is, make sure you lock your home and have an alarm set if you are not home. Seriously though, the police have better things to do.

[Steve Heard]

I have been told the Police really dont welcome these calls, they have real crime to look for, but they did say if the solicitor does not have a permit with the city they can tell them to stop. If they have a city permit then there is nothing the police can do!

I guess I wasnt very clear w my reply. The suspicious part, yes! call the police. The police cannot stop people from soliciting or being aggressive who have valid city permits. The city is issuing these permits at will now to make money from what code enforcement is saying. Bottom line is, make sure you lock your home and have an alarm set if you are not home. Seriously though, the police have better things to do.

This has not been my experience.

The cops I've talked to and have heard speak at community events always recommend calling the police if you see anyone acting suspiciously. A permit allows them to go door to door, it does not allow them to harrass or get aggressive.

Harrassing citizens is real crime and the police don't have better things to do.

[mac_convert]

I too live in ER and the guy that came to my house today. He used the last name Blanchard and said he had relatives who live a couple streets away. I said no thank you as soon as he started and he politely left. The kid was a well dressed and fit in with the neighborhood.

I think we encountered the same guy last night over in the Empire Ranch area; same line about a trip to Europe. he had a laminated card with some Bay Area addresses on it and his little card for magazine subscriptions but said something about how "most people decide not to subscribe, just donate cash." He claimed that he was willing to do tasks like wash cars, yardwork etc or that his mom would even donate a bottle of wine!

He also stated that he was the grandson of some neighbor - may or may not have been a fictional name, or he could have got their name from any number of sources. His closing line was that he had to get back to UC Berkeley tomorrow.

We politely passed on his request and he thanked us and he left. It all seemed very suspicious to us and, after reading all of your posts, I'm convinced it's the same guy and that we were right to not buy his line.

[old soldier]

the way i see it, if a burglar came to my door and rang the bell and I came to the door, he would not say, hi I am b burglar and I guess I can't hit your house cause you are home...he probably is going to come up with some sales pitch to justify his knocking at the door.

when you answer the door its also good to have a big barking dog at your side.

[Sanstar]

Just got around to reading this now...last month someone knocked on my door (evening hours after 8pm), I live on the 3rd floor of one of the apartment complexes here and though I never want to think the worst of someone, I did not answer my door because of recent reports of home invasions. Even in nice areas like ours, we still have to be on alert. It saddens me and is so unfortunate that the ones with bad intentions have ruined it for people with good intentions. Never the less, if it was an emergency, he would not have climbed 3 flights of stairs to borrow the phone. Move on young man!

[Rich_T]

If you hear the word "Europe" or "magazine", be sure that there is a van around the corner somewhere, with a street team of creepy 20-somethings who have just invaded your neighborhood before moving on to the next one. These vans drive all over the country and try to scam people. I'm surprised the legal system hasn't put an end to this deceitful practice.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

If you hear the word "Europe" or "magazine", be sure that there is a van around the corner somewhere, with a street team of creepy 20-somethings who have just invaded your neighborhood before moving on to the next one. These vans drive all over the country and try to scam people. I'm surprised the legal system hasn't put an end to this deceitful practice.

The legal system doesn't "support" this deceitful crime, but they surely can't put an end to it if people won't call the police when these scammers come to their doors. People complain all the time about suspicious people coming to their doors and when you ask if they called the police the answer is almost always "No."

[Jolene]

They were out in the Willow Creek and Empire Ranch area today. Selling Children's Books for their Baseball team???? I called Non-Emergency PD. The guy at our door was younger, jeans, black shirt, thin.

[Steve Heard]

The legal system doesn't "support" this deceitful crime, but they surely can't put an end to it if people won't call the police when these scammers come to their doors. People complain all the time about suspicious people coming to their doors and when you ask if they called the police the answer is almost always "No."

It has been my experience, through talking with cops and residents alike, that they constantly get calls about strange people walking or driving through the neighborhoods or knocking doors.

If the company has registered as a door-to-door solicitor, there's nothing they can do about it, even if the door-knocked appears disheveled and creepy.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

It has been my experience, through talking with cops and residents alike, that they constantly get calls about strange people walking or driving through the neighborhoods or knocking doors.

I'm glad more people are calling. But lots of folks who post here don't seem to be calling in these incidences.



If the company has registered as a door-to-door solicitor, there's nothing they can do about it, even if the door-knocked appears disheveled and creepy.


The FPD says the vast majority of people who solicit at the door do not have these permits.

[fromhnl]

If the company has registered as a door-to-door solicitor, there's nothing they can do about it, even if the door-knocked appears disheveled and creepy.

Actually there is a lot the PD can do simply responding to a phone call regarding a bogus solicitor. For example, simply doing a meet and greet with the solicitor, running them through NCIC for warrants, etc is just
simply doing good police work. In fact, this afternoon I had a solicitor ring my doorbell.She told me she lived down a ways on my street. Yeah right! I asked her which house and she gave me an address that did not exist. She held the typical laminated bs soliciting card of stuff to buy. She told me it was for the art institute and when I asked her if it was the one Orangevale? She said no she meant to say it was culinary school, here in town. Oh sure, I know that one! Politely told her no thank you and before she left she asked if I wanted to donate without having to buy anything. Amazing how stupid people are cause this zoned out girl had a wad of checks and loose bills showing she had been somewhat successful duping residents.
I called the PD and gave them her location. Within a matter of minutes, a patrol car responded.I drove to the next block and another unit had the cargo van stopped talking with the driver. :-) These wayward crooks are typically
from out of state, early 20's and brought into the neighborhood from the typical large cargo van to work their magic. I encourage everyone to call the PD and let these roving van of crooks know we are proactive residents and don't tolerate this bs in our neighborhood. Thanks goes out to the swing shift PD this afternoon for confronting my doorbell ringer and her posse.

[Steve Heard]

Actually there is a lot the PD can do simply responding to a phone call regarding a bogus solicitor. For example, simply doing a meet and greet with the solicitor, running them through NCIC for warrants, etc is just
simply doing good police work. In fact, this afternoon I had a solicitor ring my doorbell.She told me she lived down a ways on my street. Yeah right! I asked her which house and she gave me an address that did not exist. She held the typical laminated bs soliciting card of stuff to buy. She told me it was for the art institute and when I asked her if it was the one Orangevale? She said no she meant to say it was culinary school, here in town. Oh sure, I know that one! Politely told her no thank you and before she left she asked if I wanted to donate without having to buy anything. Amazing how stupid people are cause this zoned out girl had a wad of checks and loose bills showing she had been somewhat successful duping residents.
I called the PD and gave them her location. Within a matter of minutes, a patrol car responded.I drove to the next block and another unit had the cargo van stopped talking with the driver. :-) These wayward crooks are typically
from out of state, early 20's and brought into the neighborhood from the typical large cargo van to work their magic. I encourage everyone to call the PD and let these roving van of crooks know we are proactive residents and don't tolerate this bs in our neighborhood. Thanks goes out to the swing shift PD this afternoon for confronting my doorbell ringer and her posse.

If they have a permit the PD can't and won't do anything.

[FolsomEJ]

If they have a permit the PD can't and won't do anything.

This is not exactly accurate.

I spoke with FPD at length about this topic last night in the CAPS training. The summary of the conversation went like this:
1) Yes, FPD wants these calls, no question about it. (non-emergency line, please.)
2) FPD will respond and investigate if there are no other higher priority calls in progress.
3) There are enough of these scams and crimes that they WELCOME and WANT the calls (yes, I am repeating myself.) Fraud, identity theft and potential burglary are all possible with these solicitors. As a community we want them bad guys to know we are watching and united.
4) Providing specific details on the call is particularly helpful. Suspect description, license plate numbers (this the BEST), and a description of the pitch.

FPD does not care about enforcing the permit nearly as much as they care about crime prevention. If someone obtained a permit but is using that as cover for something else, they want to investigate. They will roll a patrol car.

Give them a call, give them descriptions and give them a chance to serve our community. If you care enough about it to complain on the Folsom Forum, care enough to call the Police.