PSP identified 279 elderly people from social risk groups in a month

PSP teams, which identify risk situations among the population over 65 years of age, identified 279 elderly people in social risk situations, including emergency medical patients and criminal suspects.

The Public Security Police (PSP), as part of the 12th Operation “Solidarity Has No Age”, which runs from July 27 to September 27 throughout the country, has already registered 530 elderly people, 279 of whom are at risk of social situations, according to an interim balance published today.

The PSP statement said the discoveries were made “mainly thanks to police officers assigned to the support teams for rapprochement and assistance to victims (EPAV)”, whose main objective is to “intensify direct contact and dialogue with the elderly population (+65 years).”

The aim is to identify early “cases of social vulnerability, physical and/or psychological vulnerability and suspicions of crimes against physical integrity” and to facilitate “immediate and appropriate support through coordinated responses with partner organisations”.

“Among the various risk factors tested, 76 older people were identified as lacking independence, 49 as having a serious clinical condition requiring immediate medical attention, 48 as lacking a network of contacts, 54 as suspected of being repeat offenders, 26 for living in degrading living conditions, 19 for complete social isolation and 7 for economic and financial insufficiency,” the PSP specifies.

The PSP emphasizes that the elderly population “due to mobility limitations and mental weakness, become preferred victims of crimes” such as robbery, fraud, extortion, coercion, kidnapping, domestic violence, abuse, which are added to economic vulnerability, which is evident in precarious housing, hygiene and sanitation conditions.

“The feeling of abandonment (loneliness) and the social scourge of isolation, typical of large cities, associated with the awareness of the elderly of their vulnerability and the inability to overcome it on their own, aggravate the risk of (re)victimization. And all these variables, without an active and supportive family and/or neighborhood circle, increase the situation of anonymity, which makes possible measures to provide assistance impossible and can sometimes even lead to the death of the elderly person,” emphasizes PSP.

The work of EPAV teams is to identify indicators of various risk factors and pass them on to partner agencies that can address the identified weaknesses.

“In addition to these research efforts, these police officers are often the only company or ‘friendly face’ these seniors have, becoming their confidants, friends and family. This closeness that is created between the police and the citizen is the true essence of close policing and one of the core missions of the PSP,” the statement said.

PSP also recalls the I’m Here Adults program to find missing adults, which has been in operation since 2015 and has since reunited 84 lost or disoriented people with their families, has already assigned 15,466 geo-tagging bracelets, and currently has 5,680 people who have used this mechanism.