Training, Outreach and Deterrence
While pursuing elder financial exploitation cases that fall within its jurisdiction, the department has devoted significant resources to training and enhancing the capacity of state and local prosecutors and law enforcement to detect and respond to elder financial exploitation.
Since 2006, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has provided grant funding to over 60 communities through its Enhanced Training and Services to End Abuse in Later Life Program. Through this program, OVW has supported the development of national curricula for law enforcement, prosecutors and courts to enhance their ability to recognize, address, investigate and prosecute cases of elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation.
To further enhance prosecution, the department established in 2013 the National Institute on Prosecuting Elder Abuse. This Institute puts on an intensive four-day training that covers the essential elements of bringing an elder abuse or financial exploitation case, including working with older victims, capacity issues, working with medical and financial evidence, charging decisions and coordinated community responses. Since 2013, the department has trained state and local prosecutors from 26 states and the District of Columbia. In order to ensure that every state has prosecutors trained to effectively prosecute elder abuse and financial exploitation, the department has committed to enrolling and training prosecutors from the remaining 24 states by 2017.
For those prosecutors unable to attend the in-person training, the department is working with the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life and state and local prosecutors from around the country to develop a video series on the key elements of an elder abuse prosecution. This video series, which will cover topics ranging from investigations and charging decisions to working with experts and older victims, will be made available on the Elder Justice Website in the fall of this year.
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Over the past decade, the department has also supported the development of national curricula for criminal justice professionals and others to enhance their ability to recognize, address, investigate and prosecute cases of elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. During that time, the department has provided grant funding to 77 communities in 37 states and the District of Columbia to provide in-person training to over 8,000 law enforcement officers on elder abuse and financial exploitation. Because not all law enforcement officers can attend these in-person training sessions, the department has been collaborating with national law enforcement organizations such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police and National Sheriffs’ Association to develop Internet-accessible training materials and resources that will be available to state and local law enforcement officers nationwide.
In addition to supporting the training of law enforcement and prosecutors, the department has focused on enhancing the capacity of civil legal assistance programs to support victims of elder abuse. In 2014, the department’s Office for Victims of Crime, in collaboration with the department’s Office for Access to Justice and the Elder Justice Initiative, developed a series of free, online elder abuse training for legal services providers. The elder abuse training consists of four modules, including:
- What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Elder Abuse;
- Practical and Ethical Strategies;
- Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault in Later Life; and
- Financial Fraud and Exploitation.
In 2015, there were more than 3,400 completions of these four online trainings, including 711 completions of the Financial Fraud and Exploitation online training module. More recently, on June 14, the department and the Corporation for National and Community Service announced the launch of its Elder Justice Americorps program to provide civil legal assistance and support to victims of elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. This program will provide grants to support 300 Americorps members over the next two years. AmeriCorps members will serve more than 4,000 older adults each year by providing screenings for abuse, neglect or financial exploitation; referrals to support services associated to abuse or neglect; and high-quality legal services. These Americorps members will work in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Community outreach is also an important part of the department’s strategy to combat elder abuse. Educating seniors about how they can protect themselves helps prevent further victimization. Every year, the department participates in the Rocky Mountain Fraud Summit in Denver. This summit is a collaborative effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the AARP, the SEC, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and other federal, state, and local regulators across the Rocky Mountain region. The summit, which is often held at an assisted living facility, consists of interactive presentations about investment frauds that target our communities, including our senior communities.
While investigating and prosecuting matters such as those I have discussed is one component of an effective strategy to combat elder fraud, preventing these crimes from happening at all is similarly a priority. To this end, the department hosts community outreach events across the country. For example, in April 2015, during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota partnered with assisted living facilities in St. Paul, St. Cloud and Duluth to educate seniors on ways to protect themselves against investment fraud. The presentations informed seniors about identifying red flags, how to report suspicious conduct and other tips for dealing with investment fraud. We will continue to reach out to elders in all communities to help ensure that they are well informed.
