JSPOA (Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults, Inc.) Story - Developing a Program for Senior Citizen Safety

• NCJ Number: 85092
• Author(s): E Camerieri
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 19 pages
• Corporate Author: Community Service Soc of New York; Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults, Inc
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Number 6 in a series of seven monographs

Annotation

This monograph describes the efforts of the Jamaica Service Programs for Older Adults (JSPOA) in developing a crime prevention program addressing the needs of its senior citizens.

Abstract

Establishment of a senior citizen safety committee was the first major step in the development of the JSPOA safety program. Committee members were originally drawn from church-based senior clubs. The committee tended to attract many older people with strong emotional involvement in the issue, primarily because of personal victimization. A major achievement of the safety committee was to establish a continuing dialog with local police. In 1973, JSPOA sponsored a communitywide fair attended by over 400 people. The fair called public attention to the need for citizen safety programs, the need to recruit widespread support for the programs, and the need to communicate information regarding crime to seniors. One of the self-help programs highlighted at the fair was the blockwatchers program. Additional crime-fighting measures encouraged by JSPOA include Operation Identification, crime prevention meetings, reporting of incidents to police, victim assistance, and home safety measures. In 1976 community participation in these efforts was broadened with the establishment of an anticrime coalition. Two photographs are provided.