Is your contact information correct? We’re in the process of updating our listing of all active Triads. We maintain primary contact information and SALT Council information. Please take a few moments to fill in a brief update and send this form back to us TODAY! Having updated information will help others contact you for crime prevention method sharing.
NATI Update Form [PDF]
While our database is being updated here is a downloadable copy of our Triad Directory in both PDF and Microsoft Excel formats:
Triad Database [Excel]
AARP Maine Broadens Elder Abuse Awareness AARP Maine has teamed up with Maine Triads to help spread the word on Elder Abuse Awareness and Prevention. In a recent project, AARP helped to develop and produce a laminated palm card that has the toll-free number for reporting suspected cases of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation in Maine, and describes the role of Adult Protective Services. Maine Triads, along with AARP, will be distributing the cards to frontline emergency responders, including law enforcement officials, and community service organizations who serve older adults. For those who are unfamiliar with Triads, they are community organizations made up of senior volunteers and community organizations who work to assist law enforcement to help keep safe in their communities. The idea for the palm card came from a Maine Triad volunteer who learned how useful such a resource could be when she was a volunteer in Massachusetts. This volunteer tells how she provided the elder abuse hotline number to someone who told her she was concerned about an elderly neighbor. She later learned that a call had been made and officials who had investigated the complaint found an elderly women being held captive in her attic by a relative. Each year more than 12,000 Mainers are victims of elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. It is predicted that this number will increase as the aging population expands over the course of the next 20 years. This palm card serves as a quick reference tool for victims, mandated reporters, and law enforcement officers, for when they encounter suspected cases of elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation in the community. “With the holidays are right around the corner, family members are more opt to be visiting older relatives and friends and may be in a situation where they suspect elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation,” noted Greg Cross, AARP Maine Community Outreach Director. “Having the knowledge of Adult Protective Services and knowing how to access to the hotline may assist individuals in reporting suspected cases and may also help to lower the likelihood of elder abuse from occurring in the future.” If anyone suspects that an older adult is being abused in their community, they should immediately contact the APS Hotline at 1-800-624-8404 to report the case. If you would like to receive a palm card for yourself and/or for other members of your community or community organizations, contact AARP Maine via email at aarpme@aarp.org.
Lincoln-Way students perform car safety checks for senior citizensBy Charla Brautigam Lincoln-Way North High School career and technical teacher Tony Ogarek shows students how to test the coolant on a car during a winter car care check-up for senior citizens on Wednesday, Nov. 17.
Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 students teamed up with area police departments on Wednesday, Nov. 17 to perform free winter car care check-ups for senior citizens.
More than a dozen area seniors took advantage of the free program, taking their cars to Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort to have their cars looked over by auto mechanic students.
“The inspections are safety related,” said Tony Ogarek, a career and technical teacher at Lincoln-Way North High School, who helped students check everything from car tires and batteries, to belts, hoses, fluids, steering and suspension.
This is the second year Lincoln-Way High School District 210 has teamed up with the Frankfort/Mokena TRIAD and New Lenox/Manhattan TRIAD to offer the winter car care check-ups for senior citizens.
The goal was to give senior citizens an unbiased account of whether their cars are safe for the winter driving season and students an opportunity to hone their newly developed skills.
“We want to keep seniors safe,” said Officer Leanne Bender with the Frankfort Police Department.
Editorial: Time to think of elder drivers' safety
Staff Reports
Older Americans are driving more miles than ever and the rate of fatal crashes involving seniors is declining, experts recently told the National Transportation Safety Board.
While it’s encouraging to see the trend of fewer deaths, probably related to better health among those labeled seniors as well as to improved vehicle safety, there are few answers to how to keep seniors mobile once they can no longer safely drive themselves.
That could result in a “mobility gap,” according to Joseph Coughlin, head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s AgeLab, which develops technology aimed at keeping older people active.
“For many,” he said, “our homes will not be just a place to age, it will also be house arrest.”
For the many seniors on the Treasure Coast, that’s a discouraging possibility to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Within 15 years, more than 1 in 5 licensed drivers will be 65 or older and those numbers will almost double from about 30 million today to about 57 million in 2030, according to a recent Associated Press story.
Technology can help keep older drivers stay behind the wheel longer. Seniors will benefit from crash warning systems, parallel parking devices and night vision systems, for example.
Still, there will come a time when they have to turn over their keys. According to The Associated Press, men generally outlive their driving ability by an average of six years and women by an average of 10 years.
That loss of independence can be an awful experience for many seniors. They must depend on friends or family members to drive them around or pay high prices for taxis or other transportation.
Mass transit could be a solution for some, but only for those healthy enough to use such systems and who live in cities where they are available. In many cases, physical conditions that prevent them from driving — such as loss of eyesight or frailty — also would prevent them reasonably use mass transit.
Mass transit is not be viable for most seniors who retire and continue to live in suburban homes. How will they to get around?
Another and potentially tragic alternative for seniors is continuing to drive when they should not, putting themselves and others at risk.
And, their rates of fatal crashes already is higher compared with other groups, starting about age 75. Drivers older than 85 have a higher fatality rate than teenagers and drivers in their early 20s. That’s largely because they are less likely to survive an accident or recover from injuries.
Aging baby boomers are facing a dilemma when it comes to keeping independent and mobile in their late years. But it’s also a dilemma for society.
Some solutions may be found in technology and rethinking transportation policies. Considering how technology has so drastically changed life just in recent years, it would not be surprising for it to have a major role in closing the “mobility gap.”
Time is short for coming up with solutions. Baby boomers are numerous and they aren’t getting any younger.
— From the Daily News’ fellow Scripps newspapers in Stuart, Vero Beach and Fort Pierce, Florida.
Triads in Action: Cook County, IL In Cook County there are hundreds of senior expos/fairs each year, some very well attended, others not so much! It seems the best ones offer something besides "info" for the seniors...
seasonal flu shots
awards/recognition for community involvement awards ceremony refreshments - coffee & rolls free health screenings free lunch Safety & Crime Prevention presentations...these are usually best done in a small classroom away from the event as a whole, they can be scheduled to begin every hour on the hour, depending on the topic, speakers and interest, this is a little hit and miss. Some nice touches at these type of events, include intergenerational programs, local school kids choral group performances, student volunteers "helping" out at event, family attending with senior for award ceremonies... Please contact me (please see www.nationaltriad.org for contact information), if you want to talk in person about expos and health/safety fairs, I have been assisting in coordination of such events for 15 years. Also, following are some additional contacts in Illinois that have presented successful Triad Senior Fairs/Expos: Arlan Menninga, Matteson IL Triad- Barry Bonnazi, Will County IL Triad- Denise Bode, Lemont IL Triad- Also, some of our townships and villages present excellent fairs for seniors, I would recommend you speak to the following contacts, they have the concept mastered!!!
Paula Laven - Thornton Township - - 400 seniors attend annually Beverly Beaty - City of Oak Forest - - 250 seniors attend annually Stickney Township - Kelly Dillon - - 150 seniors attend annually
State/Federal Collaborations Reap More Protections INDIANAPOLIS – Attorney General Greg Zoeller welcomed the announcement from the Federal Trade Commission today of a new set of rules aimed at protecting homeowners from mortgage relief and foreclosure consultant scams. Under the new rules, mortgage relief companies can only collect fees after a homeowner has received and accepted a written offer for a loan modification from their lender. The FTC’s new regulations, dubbed the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule, will protect distressed homeowners from mortgage relief scams that have sprung up during the mortgage crisis. All provisions of MARS will take effect January 31, 2011. “I applaud the FTC for taking these steps to protect consumers from deceptive marketing practices and foreclosure scams. Greater protections for consumers can be achieved through active collaboration among state and federal government agencies, which has been demonstrated today,” Zoeller said. “The FTC’s new regulations of mortgage rescue companies will enhance our own enforcement abilities as we continue to search for new and stronger tools to protect Hoosiers.” To read more: http://intranet.atg.in.local/Pages/PressRelease112210.aspx
Michigan Lawmakers Push Safety on the Roads For Elderly and Teen Drivers
By: Jonathon Abrahams
All Michigan residents know that our state has two seasons: winter and construction. While many consider this a playful jest regarding the state's weather and roadway conditions, both factors can cause serious accidents resulting in significant personal injury or death. Experienced Michigan injury lawyers see examples of this each winter--the amount of auto accidents across the state almost always rise when weather or construction conditions create hazards.
While Michigan officials are concerned with maintaining the safety of each motorist at all times, there are two groups of which lawmakers are the most concerned: elderly and teen drivers. Even though older drivers are more likely to wear a seat belt and avoid driving while intoxicated, they are more likely to sustain serious injury or die in car accidents. Compared to motorists aged between 35-54, senior drivers are three times as likely to be fatally injured in a crash. On the other hand, teenage drivers are the least likely to wear seat belts and more prone to driving drunk. Additionally, inexperienced motorists often ride with multiple people in the vehicle or use their cellular phone while behind the wheel, ultimately creating distractions that can lead to gruesome auto accidents in Michigan.
Safety advocates across the state worry that elder put themselves at risk, as well as others on the road around them. Older motorists have certain physical limitations that inhibit their ability to drive properly, particularly in bad weather or in construction zones. Over time, eyesight will diminish, and many senior citizens have difficulty turning their necks to check traffic. Because of these limitations, at least 25 states have set special provisions for older drivers to ensure they are fit for the road, including vision tests, shortening renewal periods, or banning renewal by mail. Currently, the state of Michigan does not have special licensing requirements for senior motorists. However, this is likely to change as lawmakers take more notice of the baby-boomer generation, who being turning 65 next year.
Government officials also fear for the safety of teenage drivers, and those in their path on state highways. Because younger driver's have a tendency to create higher risks of an accident for themselves, many are pushing for stricter driving requirements for these people. AAA Michigan and driving experts are pushing for changes to the state's graduated licensing program, limiting the number of people a teen driver may have in the vehicle when behind the wheel. According to driving instructor Tom Tarr, teenage motorists double their chance of a fatal accident when having another adolescent in the car. When two of more teens are in the vehicle, the risk of disaster increases again, making them five times more likely to get into an accident.
Even though the risks for elder and teen drivers are greater, it is a good thing that safety advocates and state lawmakers are taking an active interest in keeping all on the road safe. It is important however, that those surrounding old and young drivers keep safety in mind as well--parents, monitor who your teen drives with, encourage safety belt use, and eliminate possible distractions. Those close to older motorists should offer to drive in bad weather, at night, or through construction zones. Although your loved ones may not agree, keeping a close eye on their driving habits could prevent a terrible accident from occurring. If a crash does happen, a victim and their family will undoubtedly have several questions regarding their options. For answers, as well as the best legal advice and legal representation, it is essential to contact a skilled and knowledgeable Michigan injury attorney for assistance. Doing so quickly can help provide the best outcome for your personal injury claim, ensuring the compensation you deserve for your injuries and losses.
Michigan lawmakers and safety advocates have their eye on two groups of motorists as the winter season approaches, elderly and teen drivers. While older motorists are more likely to wear a seat belt and less likely to drive drunk, the injuries they sustain in car accidents in much greater then younger drivers. Teens behind the wheel are also at risk--adolescent motorists are less likely to wear a seat belt and more likely to drive drunk and/or have multiple distractions that can cause crashes.
Accidents can happen at anytime, causing personal injury or death. If hurt in an accident, it is important to retain an experienced and skilled personal injury lawyer in Michigan for help asserting your rights. http://abrahamslaw.com
Friends, family increasingly rip off elderly
In the U.S. each year, a million older folks lose about $2.6 billion to scammers and thieves
By Mary Beth Lane At 81, Millie Rutherford wanted only to help her son when he moved back into her Bremen home.
Daniel L. Rutherford was 49, an unemployed heroin addict living at a trailer court in Pickaway County. He had worked as a state prison guard for about a decade until he was fired in 2003. He told his mother he had stopped using heroin and wanted to find a job.
He helped out around the house in rural Fairfield County, and she generally gave him $100 a week. Then he wanted more, and she gave him more. Then he began taking his mother's money on his own, forging checks and using her debit card without her knowledge.
Daniel Rutherford stole an estimated $55,000 from his mother, authorities said when they arrested him in August.
The amount could not be proved, however, and had the case gone to trial, said Assistant Fairfield County Prosecutor Gregg Marx, Daniel Rutherford was prepared to argue that his mother wrote him checks willingly.
He took a plea deal in Common Pleas Court on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to theft from an elderly person, a fourth-degree felony, and admitted stealing $1,290 from his mother. Daniel Rutherford was sentenced to seven months in prison.
Sitting at home, Millie Rutherford cried as she shared her feelings.
"I had to do it; I had to take him in. I just didn't know how to say no to him," she said.
"I feel like I've been pretty stupid."
She does not stand alone. Financial exploitation is a form of elder abuse that is thought to be increasing as the U.S. population ages.
Family members, friends and caregivers are the thieves in 55 percent of the financial-abuse cases against the elderly, according to a report issued last year by the MetLife Mature Market Institute, the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech.
An estimated 1 million older Americans lose more than $2.6 billion annually to all forms of financial fraud, the report found. For each case reported, an estimated four to five are not.
The federally funded National Elder Mistreatment Study released last year estimated that 1 in 20 adults older than 60 had been financially mistreated by family members or by others they trusted. Most prevalent was spending money without permission.
Researchers interviewed 5,777 older adults by phone and wrote that the study's estimates are based on self-reporting of mistreatment, which is "notoriously underreported" by older Americans.
Elderly victims are embarrassed to have been swindled and worry that family members will think they are incompetent and need to be put in a nursing home, investigators and adult-protection workers say.
Sometimes victims are incompetent because they have Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia and cannot testify in court.
Pinning down elder fraud also is difficult because there is no national repository, and each state collects data differently, said Sharon Merriman-Nai of the National Center on Elder Abuse, based in Newark, Del. Predators such as Deborah G. Johnson and Anita L. Esquibel, who obtained power of attorney for 94-year-old Peter W. Svaldi and then stole more than $850,000 of his savings, commonly groom their victims and isolate them from family members before moving in for the crime.
Misused power of attorney is a license to steal, say police and prosecutors in Columbus who worked the Svaldi case. They said it was the worst elder fraud they had encountered.
Home-health aides, financial planners and others in positions of trust also swindle the elderly. Visiting nurse's aide Cindy L. Flagg of Lancaster was sentenced in Fairfield County to three years on probation and ordered to pay restitution this year in such a case. She admitted that she stole several thousand dollars from an Alzheimer's patient she cared for, along with his wife, in Pickerington.
Last year, a federal judge in Columbus sentenced financial adviser Julie M. Jarvis, of the Far North Side, to 51/2 years in prison after she admitted stealing nearly $2.7million from two elderly clients.
Strangers prey on older people as well, using mail and telemarketing scams. Traveling bands of con artists offer driveway paving or tree-trimming at reasonable rates and then demand more money, draining hundreds of millions of dollars in all from older Americans annually.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien does not track the number of such cases his office prosecutes each year. "Anecdotally, it appears to me that there's been an increase in targeting of and crimes against elderly victims," he said.
Ohio increased the penalties for theft against people 65 or older and disabled adults in 1999.
The theft committed by Johnson and Esquibel, for example, would normally be a second-degree felony, punishable by two to eight years in prison. Because an elderly person was the victim, the crime was elevated to a first-degree felony, punishable by three to 10 years in prison. Virtually every jurisdiction nationwide has "bump-up provisions" for various crimes against the elderly and disabled because those groups are deemed more vulnerable, said Ric Simmons, a criminal-law professor at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University. And even if there is no correlation between enhanced penalties and deterrence, he said, such laws are politically popular.
"I tend to be retributive," said Simmons, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan. "Morally, that's a worse crime. I have absolutely no problem making it a worse punishment." David Kessler doesn't need a study to know the trends. The investigator for Fairfield County Adult Protective Services said most of his cases involve elderly people who have been victimized by their families.
"It is going through the roof," he said.
Family caregivers rationalize their behavior by thinking, "Look at all I do; I'm entitled."
"Because of the economy, it's even more on the increase," Kessler said. "Before losing your house, the last resort is grandma or grandpa."
Also, he said, many who prey on an elderly family member are addicted to drugs or gambling or another vice so powerful that they are driven to steal.
"The No. 1 excuse I hear from the predator is, 'They wanted me to have it' or 'They gave it to me.' But that was based on lies, deception and undue influence."
Millie Rutherford was deceived and pressured by her son into writing him check after check, ostensibly for medical bills at the Veterans Administration hospital in Chillicothe and for car repairs, said Kessler, who was frustrated that he and the prosecutor could not prove the extent of the fraud.
"It breaks our heart to not be able to prove he stole all of it," Kessler said. In a Licking County courtroom in September, Samantha L. Crawford held out her wrists so a deputy sheriff could fasten the handcuffs.
She had just been sentenced to four years in prison for aggravated theft, a third-degree felony, and aggravated theft from a disabled adult, a second-degree felony. The victim was her mother, 62-year-old Crystal A. Crawford, who has Parkinson's disease.
Behind her mother's back, Samantha Crawford transferred the deed to her mother's house in Newark into her name. She acted while she had temporary power of attorney for her mother, who was in a nursing home at the time recovering from surgery.
Samantha Crawford said she took the house, where she and her boyfriend had been living with her three children, because she was afraid her mother was going to kick her out.
At sentencing, Common Pleas Judge Thomas Marcelain ignored her plea for mercy, noting that this was her second conviction for stealing from her mother. She had received probation in 2006 for theft and forgery convictions related to taking money from her mother's checking account.
At Crystal Crawford's house, which is now back in her name, she reflected on what happened.
Her 36-year-old daughter has used drugs since high school, most recently crack cocaine and methamphetamine, she said. She tried to help by giving her daughter a place to live and money to pay bills.
"Samantha seems to think that anything bad that has happened was someone else's fault," her mother said. "I suppose that's my fault to a certain extent. I always stepped in and tried to help her." She reported the deed transfer to Newark police when she learned of it last year, and that led to the prosecution and imprisonment of her daughter.
"It's called tough love," she said, "and it gets mighty tough at times."
mlane@dispatch.com
Prevent elder abuse by staying in touch
By Mario Garrett,
Some studies are showing that most people who commit elder abuse have themselves been abused as children. The perpetuity of abuse does not lessen the horrendous impact this crime visits on the victim’s state of mind, physical well-being, and dignity. Older adults who are abused and neglected are three times more likely to die earlier than those who are not abused. Although statistics hide the personal degradation of abuse, it is important to understand the context so that we can lessen its cancerous growth in our community.
In the United States more than 360,000 new cases of elder abuse are reported each year, which sadly translates to 40 new cases per hour. In San Diego County, Adult Protective Services deals with about 5,000 confirmed cases of elderly abuse every year. With a doubling of the aging population by 2030 to more than 70 million, we will continue seeing a burgeoning of elder abuse cases. San Diego County is home to the second largest elderly population in the state and the fourth largest in the nation with an estimated 342,000 older adults.
By understanding the context of elder abuse, it is possible to address it before it happens. Most elder abuse cases involve a caregiver — usually a family member or a friend — who has become dependent on the older adult for their livelihood. The victims of elder abuse are more likely to be female who are frail and dependent living with their caregiver. In most cases victims are more likely to have varying stages of dementia and are socially isolated. On the other hand, most perpetrators of abuse are caregivers who have a history of some mental illness or substance abuse.
While self neglect and abandonment comprise two out of three cases of abuse, financial abuse in California constitutes 13 percent of cases. With more seniors becoming computer-savvy, Internet financial scams now account for a large number of financial abuse cases.
Community involvement is one possible solution, where volunteers befriend vulnerable older adults and establish contact (by phone or visits). The less invisible vulnerable older adults become, the less likely that they will be victimized. Connecting with vulnerable adults can be accomplished in many ways.
For example, Julie Sugita, a dentist who graduated from the SDSU gerontology program, developed awareness training to help dentists and oral hygienists — who have long periods of close examination with patients — identify potential elder abuse.
If you are an older adult who relies on caregivers for your day-to-day activities, ensure that you communicate with family and friends about your arrangement. Do not feel guilty about reporting abuse. In San Diego call the elder abuse hotline (800) 510-2020.
Mario Garrett, Ph.D., is a professor of gerontology at San Diego State University. He can be reached at mariusgarrett@yahoo.com
New Resource for Responding to Identity Theft
"Expanding Services To Reach Victims of Identity Theft and Financial Fraud" (NCJ 230590) offers practical tools to prepare victim service providers to help victims of identity theft and financial fraud. Launched during National Cyber Security Month, this e-publication includes information about developing case protocols, training staff, and staging campaigns; it also provides self-help materials to enable victims to become better self-advocates. (OVC)
Elder abuse: A growing beat
On his rounds, St. Paul police Sgt. Mike Wortman checked in with Peggy Jeffrey, 85, to make sure she had heat and enough food.
With a new elder-abuse unit, St. Paul police focus attention on a rapidly growing category of crime, cases which are often difficult to investigate. By CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune
It wasn't the ordinary crime investigation when Sgt. Mike Wortman reported to work early last week: A small, tidy room at a St. Paul care facility, an elderly woman lying in bed, a few questions about the way her daughter has been administering her medicine.
But then Wortman's new job isn't the ordinary crime beat: He's St. Paul's first full-time police investigator dedicated to Crimes Against the Elderly.
The unit was formed last month after years of an alarming increase in such crimes. Because perpetrators of elder abuse and similar crimes are prosecuted under general statutes that don't specify age, concrete statistics are hard to come by. But in St. Paul, police say they handled 77 cases of financial crimes against the elderly in 2008, up from 46 in 2006. All crimes against the elderly in St. Paul rose 14 percent from 2007 to 2008, said Assistant Police Chief Kenneth Reed.
"It's not very common, but it's growing," Reed said of police elder-abuse units. "We've seen elder abuse cases increasing rapidly each year."
Wortman's unit is one more example of the way Minnesota is changing under pressure from a demographic wave of gray. The state's elderly population will more than double by 2030, triggering changes in health care, transportation, housing, family life and even law enforcement.
Because crimes against the elderly have unusual and difficult aspects, police say a focused, specialized unit is the only way to protect seniors. Previously, Wortman worked such cases part-time, juggling them with his other duties as an arson investigator. Another investigator also helped out as she worked on unrelated cases.
"They're very time-consuming and long," Wortman said. "When that's your sole responsibility, it's a lot easier."
Many victims, for example, are at the mercy of their victimizers -- often family members -- or fear being placed in a nursing home if their victimizer is prosecuted, experts and police say.
In addition, the crimes are under-reported because of shame, isolation, and age-related mental and physical health limitations, said Sharon Merriman-Nai, co-manager of the National Center on Elder Abuse in Delaware.
"Elder abuse in general is a very under-researched field," Merriman-Nai said. "One of the challenges, first of all, is that very few cases relatively speaking come to light."
At any given time, there are an estimated 700,000 to 3.5 million victims of elder abuse nationwide, she said, or about 11 percent of the population over age 60.
The Minneapolis Police Department has an investigator who handles such cases, but not a full-fledged unit.
Under Reed's guidance, St. Paul police applied in 2008 and 2009 for federal grants to launch the unit with two full-time investigators, but were shot down. When Chief Thomas Smith was sworn in this June, he and Reed put their heads together to make the unit a reality with department funds despite a tough fiscal year.
"We were starting to get more and more complaints about elder abuse," Smith said. "Even on a national trend, this has become a real issue. It's very complicated to investigate these cases."
Challenges with investigations
On a recent fall morning, Wortman and an advocate with St. Paul Domestic Abuse Intervention Project visited suspected victims of elder abuse. Wortman questioned the victims, then left the room so the advocate could help form a safety plan to deal with potential victimizers.
A few hours into his day, Wortman had encountered the hallmark challenges of elder abuse investigations: Some victims had faulty memories, one woman's speech was nearly indecipherable due to her body's uncontrollable shaking, and one proud man was reluctant to accept the possibility that his wife was being bilked by family members.
In many cases, Wortman had to discern the truth between squabbling relatives and siblings, many of whom didn't live in Minnesota.
"You try to explain to them that it's nothing to be ashamed about," Wortman said of his approach with victims. "Anybody can be the victim of crime. It's opened my eyes. Boy, it's opened my eyes."
Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708
www.911cellhponebank.org | |
