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Responding to Elder Abuse: What Law Enforcement Should Know Video Preview Transcript

[Ricker Hamilton, Adult Protective Services, Maine, speaks as we see an older man standing on the sidewalk of a busy street looking confused and an older woman looking out of a window. Hamilton continues speaking as we see a police car driving down the street and photographs of police officers speaking with older individuals.]

Ricker Hamilton: Elder abuse is a hidden problem. We have victims who are truly isolated in every way. And law enforcement officers, and those of us that are in people’s home, have the ability to break that silence, have an ability to broach that isolation and to reach out to those victims, sometimes for the first time.

[Title screen displays “Responding to Elder Abuse: What Law Enforcement Should Know”; Chapter One, Recognizing Elder Abuse.]

[Laura Mosqueda, MD, Director, Program in Geriatrics, UC Irvine, speaks on screen and continues speaking over a photograph of an older man covering his face.]

Laura Mosqueda: Elder abuse is mistreatment of older adults. It can take many forms. It can take the form of financial abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault. It can be neglect.

[Ricker Hamilton, Adult Protective Services, Maine, speaks on-screen.]

Ricker Hamilton: Seventy to ninety percent of the perpetrators of elder abuse are family members, loved ones or caregivers. It’s someone who’s very important to this older victim.

[Sergeant Kenneth Smith, Sheriff’s Department, Orange County, California, speaks as we see him working in the office of Sex Crimes and Family Violence and continues to speak on camera.]

Sergeant Kenneth Smith: It’s very important for law enforcement to be trained in recognizing and investigating elder abuse, because it is probably the most complicated type of law enforcement that I’ve ever run into.

[Laura Mosqueda, MD, speaks on-screen and continues speaking over a scene of an older woman feeling her way along as she walks carefully down a hallway.]

Laura Mosqueda: It takes putting the picture together; it takes working with a variety of disciplines to see if it makes sense. But what we can’t do is just always attribute it to, "Well, they’re old so they fall," "Well, they’re old so they have a broken bone." That’s a very dangerous assumption to make.

[End of video clip.]

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