Adi Stuhlsatz
The Riley County Law Enforcement Center is located off of Seth Child Road. The law enforcement center houses a 120-bed jail, and associated support services for Riley County.
The Riley County Police Department has seen multiple reports of scam phone calls over the past couple of weeks, according to a post on X by RCPD. While scam calls are not altogether uncommon, Joshua Kinder, public information officer, said there has been an uptick in reports. Kinder noted the recent calls were more “odd” than those reported in the past.
“They [scam callers] are asking for payment, in most cases in the form of gift cards,” Kinder said. “So it’s a little odd, asking for gift cards to take care of legal issues that oftentimes the recipient of the call didn’t know they had, or warrants for their arrest that they weren’t aware of. Some have called informing the community member that they missed jury duty, and they have to pay a penalty now.”
The RCPD issued a post on X advising community members not to engage with the caller and to report any suspicious calls to their non-emergency number.
“It is not our policy to ever call people about warrants and ask for money over the phone,” Kinder said. “We will never do that. The RCPD will never request payment over the phone for anything.”
Multiple citizens reported that some callers claimed to be Patrol Officer Davenport of Riley County, as well as other officers. Kinder said that they “do not employ a Patrol Officer Davenport.” Callers are claiming to be current or even non-existent officers or detectives; therefore, RCPD encourages people to call the station to confirm whether they are receiving a scam phone call.