NCJ Number
115805
Date Published
1988
Length
112 pages
Annotation
A survey of a representative nationwide sample of 200 law enforcement agencies was designed to determine how police perceive the scope and severity of elder abuse and neglect, the level of police awareness of legal mandates and related issues, and how law enforcement currently responds to this problem; recommendations for the police response to this problem are provided.
Abstract
A total of 175 of the agencies surveyed were included in the study. Twenty-eight of the responding agencies participated in a follow-up telephone survey. This report on the survey first addresses the extent of the problem, drawing from both police perceptions of its severity, prevalence, and importance to the community as well as an analysis of the data provided by survey respondents. This analysis illustrates how police attitudes and beliefs shape their policies. The report also focuses on strategies used to deal with domestic elder abuse/neglect, such as legislation, written police departmental policies/procedures, special departmental means for handling or preventing elder abuse, communicating elder abuse issues within the police department, and coordination with social service agencies and other outside resources. The report then examines how police departments transform philosophies and policies into practice. The discussion focuses on the amount of time departments devote to elder abuse training, the format and content of that training, and other aspects of informing police personnel of their duties and responsibilities in elder abuse cases. Because officer safety has been a concern and topic of discussion in most training academies regarding domestic abuse cases, this issue is also discussed. The concluding chapter presents practitioners' recommendations for policymakers, police administrators, other practitioners, trainers, and others involved in defining the police role in elder abuse cases. Appended supplementary information. 72 references.