Um. I don't often swear on HN, but what the fuck.

It should go without saying that it is not normal in a civilized society for the police to harass and intimidate random people over the telephone into giving them money - let alone automating it.

There is no mention above about people being harassed and intimidated.

Yes there is. Phoning someone and saying "This is the police", followed by a pause, is calculated to raise people's heart rate and stress them out. They know that because they follow it up with "don't worry" - people shouldn't be worried in the first place. It deliberately plays on people's fear, and that's despicable.

Then there's the fact that some people fear repercussions for not donating. How did they get that impression? An honest misunderstanding, no doubt...

Then there's the repeated robocalling. That would certainly harass me.

If only there was someone that could go arrest them…

The police always intimidate. It's how they try to gain control of every situation they are in. If there's no mention, it should be assumed, and should be assumed unless there's specific evidence to the contrary.

First time it happened my heart jumped into my throat. I was fucking pissed off.

or if it's actually the police and not a scam

I'm Canadian but worked briefly in a call centre during university. We were contracted out by different organizations -- the Veterans of Massachusetts, the Alaska State Troopers, the Hero Fund for Florida, etc., -- and we solicited donations for these organizations. What I learned through the process was that all the organizations were bullshit fronts and the donations flowed to different P.O boxes around the country. Most of the contributors were clueless patriots or dutiful elders. Most of the best callers simply made their own scripts and said whatever they wanted to close the deal. Anyway I left obviously but I think about it now and again.