Older adults are often the most vulnerable people in our communities and are frequently targeted by criminals who seek to exploit the inherent fragilities associated with older age. A survey of people aged 65-years and over, which was conducted by the charity Age UK, identified that 53% of the people surveyed had either been the victims of fraud, or had been targeted and had failed to be deceived into parting with money. The survey also found that only approximately 5% of fraud-type deception offences against older people were ever reported to the authorities.
It is with this background of socio-criminal behaviour change that the Senior Citizen Liaison Team (SCLT) was born in 2009 as a volunteer-enabled initiative of Avon and Somerset Police. With financial harm rising to epidemic proportions and a swiftly ageing population, coupled with falling public-sector funding and increasing capacity demands, it became apparent that a swift and innovative solution was required. The SCLT was created to address the issue of senior financial harm in all its guises, from fraud and doorstep crime to loan-sharking and distraction burglary. The team, which is 100% volunteer resourced, provides a suite of bespoke safeguarding services designed to protect the vulnerable, older-person community from financial abuse wherever this is encountered.
The team reached out to the senior community with their public presentation team (PPT) by giving crime prevention presentations to thousands of older people at community locations. The PPT offers a catalogue of highly professional presentations which include audio and video content, which interest and engage with audiences from across the spectrum of society. The SCLT further established a senior minorities outreach team (SMOT) to spread the senior safety message to citizens who may not have access to support due to language or cultural issues. To engage with the wider senior community, the team produce a free, quarterly magazine – The Senior Siren – which contains crime prevention and victim support information, as well as lifestyle and health advice. The magazine was delivered via a network of volunteer and partner agencies and has become one of the most successful magazines of its kind, now made available to 250 000 readers nationwide. There were around 20 volunteers who undertake every function of the delivery of the work of the SCLT. This has included the formation of a board of trustees and the establishment of the SCLT as a registered UK charity.
Coming at a time of shrinking public sector budgets, the SCLT is 100% self-funding. This was achieved by registration as a charity and by applying for grant funding to cover the initial set-up costs. The SCLT remains strongly financially stable into its eighth year of operation and now has reliable funding streams, such as donation income from supplying guest speakers and presentation services at conferences and seminars, as well as advertising sales within the Senior Siren magazine. With the early success of reducing doorstep crime (fraud) by over 50% in 2009, the SCLT initiative has since been expanded to encompass all fraud offences that are targeted at the senior citizens. The victim-centred approach to educating older people to prevent victimisation has been expanded to three police force areas, with a potential population of over 500 000 older people.