§ 7-5-16. Solicitation by impersonating member of police, fire, fraternal or veteran's organization, or representative of charitable organization.

A.

A person commits a false personation when he or she falsely represents himself or herself to be a member or representative of any veterans' or public safety personnel organization or a representative of any charitable organization, or when any person exhibits or uses in any manner any decal, badge or insignia of any charitable, public safety personnel, or veterans' organization when not authorized to do so by the charitable, public safety personnel or veterans' organization. "Public safety personnel organization" has the meaning ascribed to that term in Section 1 of the Solicitation for Charity Act (225 ILCS 460/1).

B.

No person shall use the words "Hoffman Estates Police", "Hoffman Estates Police Department", "Hoffman Estates Patrolman", "Hoffman Estates Sergeant", "Hoffman Estates Lieutenant", "Hoffman Estates Peace Officer", "Hoffman Estates Firefighter", "Hoffman Estates Fireman", "Hoffman Estates Fire Department" or any other words to the same effect in the title of any organization, magazine or other publication without the express approval of the Board of Trustees of the Village. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the legal name of an organization contains any of the aforesaid words, the legal name may be used, provided that the following disclaimer is made by the organization: "This organization is not affiliated with, nor do receipts go to the benefit of, the Village of Hoffman Estates, Village departments or Village employees in their official capacity as employees of the Village".

C.

No person may claim or represent that he or she is acting on behalf of the Police Department, Fire Department, Chief of Police or Fire Chief when soliciting financial contributions or selling or delivering or offering to sell or deliver any merchandise, goods, services, memberships or advertisements unless the Village Board of Trustees has first entered into a written agreement with the person or with an organization with which the person is affiliated and the agreement permits the activity.

D.

No person, when soliciting financial contributions or selling or delivering or offering to sell or deliver any merchandise, goods, services, memberships or advertisements within the Village, may claim or represent that he or she is representing or acting on behalf of any governmental organization by any name which includes, "officer", "peace officer", "police", "law enforcement", "trooper", "sheriff", "deputy", "deputy sheriff", "firefighter", "fireman", "Village police", "Village fire", or any other word or words which would reasonably be understood to imply that the organization is composed of law enforcement personnel or fire personnel, unless the person is actually representing or acting on behalf of the non-governmental organization, and the non-governmental organization is controlled by and governed by a membership and represents a group or association of active duty peace officers, retired peace officers, or injured peace officers, active duty firefighters, retired firefighters, or injured firefighters and before commencing the solicitation or the sale or the offers to sell any merchandise, goods, services, memberships, or advertisements, a written contract between the soliciting or selling person and the non-governmental organization has been entered into.

E.

No person may solicit financial contributions or sell or deliver or offer to sell or deliver any merchandise, goods, services, memberships, or advertisements on behalf of a police, sheriff, other law enforcement department, or fire department unless that person is actually representing or acting on behalf of the department or governmental organization and has entered into a written contract with the Police Chief or Fire Chief and the corporate or municipal authority thereof, or the Sheriff, which specifies and states clearly and fully the purposes for which the proceeds of the solicitation, contribution or sale will be used.

(Ord. No. 3384-2002, § 1, 3-4-02)