MARYVILLE, Tenn. (SUBMITTED) -- Blount County Sheriff James Berrong announced today that the Sheriff’s Office will be accepting used and out of service cellular phones which will in turn be donated to the organization Charitable Recycling.

For every cell phone donated to Charitable Recycling, they will donate $1 to Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS), an organization which provides resources to assist in the lives of surviving families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

Cell phones can be dropped off in a bin at the security checkpoint at the front entrance of the Blount County Justice Center between now and August 15. The Sheriff’s Office will be responsible for sending the phones to Charitable Recycling.

Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS), was organized in 1984 in Camdenton, Missouri. Its membership, now totaling more than 15,000, includes spouses, children, parents, siblings, significant others, and affected co-workers of officers killed in the line of duty. Each year, between 140 and 160 officers are killed in the line of duty. COPS provides scholarships, peer-support, “COPS Kids” counseling reimbursement program, and “COPS Kids” Summer Camp, and many other assistance programs.

In Blount County, seven officers representing Blount County Sheriff’s Office, Maryville Police Department, Alcoa Police Department, and an officer with the ALCOA plant, have been killed in the line of duty. Most recently, Alcoa Police Officer Timothy Joe Hunt was killed April 19, 2000 in an accident while driving his police motorcycle.

For more information on Concerns of Police Survivors, visit www.nationalcops.org.

(Information submitted by the Blount County Sheriff's Office.)