The Onset Bay Association has received a check for $7,366.44 from the defunct Onset organization Crime Watch.

Onset Bay Association President Eleanor Martin said the group would likely use the money for its usual programming, but may give some to the schools.

Crime Watch was a controversial local group that started as an offshoot of the Onset Bay Association (OBA), thanks to a grant from the state. In partnership with the Wareham Police Department, the group helped police the streets, and handed out parking tickets – which it actually was not legally allowed to do, Onset Bay Association Board member Winna Dean and former Crime Watch member said.

“We were given permission to do something we weren’t legally allowed to do,” Dean said.

Dean also said there was actually far more money in Crime Watch’s account, “but you know the state!”

“It took a while to actually get the check to the OBA,” Dean said. “But we felt the money should go back to the OBA, because that’s where Crime Watch started.”