NCJ Number
142605
Date Published
1990
Length
100 pages
Annotation
An attempt is made to explore the emerging implications of Canada's aging society for police over the next decades.
Abstract
The rapid demographic shift towards an aging society and the various accompanying social factors have a significant influence on the policing needs of seniors and on their relationships with police. Throughout Canada, policing for seniors is a high priority with the crime prevention units, yet has not emerged as a consistently high priority outside of these divisions. Police programs and policies which relate to seniors fall into several categories: specialized crime prevention or victim assistance programs, a shift in orientation to increased sensitivity to the needs of seniors within existing police programs, and policies and programs that encourage the use of seniors as volunteers. Their work with senior citizens has convinced many police officers that effective policing requires responding to the needs and expectations of the senior population even if these needs and expectations prove incompatible with a reactive policing role. The emerging vision of police considers crime as a social and a community problem and one that the police cannot handle alone. Police personnel express a readiness to move toward a "problem solving" mode of policing. 38 footnotes, 126 references, and 3 appendixes