Background:
In 1994 with the closures of most of the mines in
Elliot Lake and the success of Retirement Living in Elliot Lake it was found
that the population demographics of Elliot Lake were changing rather
rapidly. This was not a change to
younger persons but to that of Retirement age seniors as well as early
retirement seniors. With this changing
demographic came a whole new change in the way that police needed to handle
this population.
Early on it was recognized that the aging population of Elliot Lake would have
to be treated differently by police than they had been in the past. In 1994 a
Proposal was initiated to Health Canada to secure funding for two programs that
were viewed to be necessary to adequately assist police with the changing
population of Elliot Lake. This
proposal was written as a collaboration between the
·
Elliot Lake Seniors at Risk Committee
·
Elliot Lake Retirement Living Inc.
·
A Consumer Group
·
Elliot Lake Police Services
Without getting into the intricacies of the actual
proposal, it was accepted by Health Canada and a Pilot Project was created with
the creation of two positions arising from the proposal.
These two positions were:
1.
Community Development Worker
2.
Seniors Prevention/Intervention Worker – Seniors
Issues Officer
Although the Community Development worker was
initially funded by Health Canada it was eventually dropped but the Seniors
Issues Office continues to this day.
The program goal for the Seniors Issues Officer
listed in the proposal was as follows:
“To facilitate and foster the development of independence and security
of seniors in the targeted area.”
There were also 10 program objectives listed in the
original proposal and without going to in-depth on each they were as follows:
1.
To facilitate the development of Pro-active
Policing Prevention and Intervention procedures and programs for our seniors
population.
2.
To Develop and implement programs to educate
seniors as to:
·
Safety and security issues
·
Their legal rights
·
Indicators of abuse
·
What resources are available to them in dealing
with these situations
·
The role of the police officer
·
Identify situations of potential risk
3.
To develop and implement programs to educate
officers on how to:
·
Deal with senior issues related to safety and
intervention
·
Identify situations of potential risk to seniors
·
Communicate the resources available in the
community to aid these seniors
4.
To develop and implement programs to educate the
community:
·
Physical abuse
·
Role of the police officer
·
Financial abuse – fraud scams (telemarketing)
·
Psychological abuse
·
Safety and security issues
·
Available resources for dealing with these
situations
5.
To provide counselling to seniors who have
experienced abuse.
6.
It is our understanding that many seniors will not
initiate legal action if they are living on their own. This person will assist the victim with all
stages of these dealings with the legal system until the matter is settled.
7.
To facilitate the development of peer support
programs related to safety and crime prevention.
8.
Development of a database to keep track of all
incidents and the outcome of all cases the Seniors Issues Officer deals
with. RMS
9.
To assist in the development of an information
document which would reflect success/failures and recommendations in
facilitating safety and security amongst seniors.
10.
Develop a protocol manual for support groups for
victim crisis intervention.
Later in a consultant report completed in February
of 1998 by Useful Research & Consulting, Inc of Gloucester, Ontario the performance
of the 6 Revised objective goals were discussed and reviewed.
The six revised goals discussed in this report were
as follows:
1.
To facilitate the development of proactive policing
prevention and intervention procedures and programs for seniors of Elliot Lake.
2.
To develop and implement education programs and
program materials for members of the Elliot Lake community that fosters the
independence and security of our seniors.
3.
To investigate and assist with individual policing
incidents involving seniors in the Elliot Lake community and to refer
individuals to appropriate services when applicable.
4.
To facilitate the development of peer support
programs for the seniors of Elliot Lake (i.e.: victim support)
5.
To maintain and utilize the database used to track
the characteristics and outcomes of all policing incidents that involve Elliot
Lake seniors.
6.
To document the lessons learned with regard to the
facilitation of the safety and security of seniors in Elliot Lake for
dissemination to police forces in other communities.
As you can see the initial proposal objectives as
well as the revised objectives had some very high expectations and although to
this date not all of these objectives have been met they should still be
considered attainable goals. You may
ask why these goals were not all met? The simple answer is - manpower and
resources. Although these are
definitely attainable goals it was found that one person could not meet all
these objectives.
Once again without getting into too much detail the
Seniors Issues Officer position was deemed a success even though not all of the
revised goals were reached.
And that brings us to the position as it stands
today.
It would seem that the group that put together this
proposal were ahead of their time in recognizing the changes of policing in the
future with an aging population.
The Ontario Provincial Police when analyzing
policing in Elliot Lake for an OPP takeover recognized the importance of a
Seniors Issues Officer. This position
was written into the contract-policing proposal as a necessary and vital
position that would remain under the OPP’s policing contract. In fact the OPP currently are seriously
looking at the expansion of the program possibly province wide. In order to do
this they are looking to Elliot Lake as the model to mould their program
after. Much of the groundwork that
needs to be done has already been completed in Elliot Lake, from the original
proposal to evaluation reports to the actual implementation of a successful
program.
I am the fourth person in Elliot Lake to hold the
position and find the work exhilarating if not exhausting. The work is essential and necessary
especially with Canada’s aging population.
Seniors must be dealt with in a totally different manner. Seniors are proud
and must be respected; they have a resource of information but yet are probably
living the most meagre of existences.
With the advent of advanced technology and fast
paced lifestyles it must be recognized that most seniors still require time to
express their thoughts and problems.
This is where my position comes in.
A police officer may not be able to, or be expected
to, spend a lot of time with a senior and the little time that an officer has
to try and get to the root of the problem is not enough to really see the whole
picture.
As the Seniors Issues Officer, my job is sit down
and discuss the problem, it may be of a criminal nature or it may not be, but
this is what must be determined. Once
the problem is found then the Seniors Issues Officer must be able to follow up.
This follow-up may take the form of legal assistance or just assistance in
general. It is no longer acceptable to
determine if the problem is criminal in nature and if it is not a criminal
matter to assume that the assistance of police is no longer required. We as a
society have a responsibility to our seniors to assist them to the best of our
ability.
The Seniors Issues Officer must work closely with
all support agencies within the city and government to make sure all seniors I
come into contact with are treated with dignity and respect, and for them to be
able to get the assistance that they may require.
The Future of the Seniors
Issues Office
Although it would seem that the expansion of this type of program in
policing seems inevitable we should not look for this to happen over
night. We should be grateful however
that some people with foresight saw the necessity of such a program and had the
persistence to get the program off the ground and to continue to date in Elliot
Lake.
As for the direction I am hoping to take the
position I would like to take the time to tell you about my hopes for the
position.
First I will be working very closely with the OPP’s
Seniors Assistance Unit out of General Headquarters in Orillia. Discussions have already been launched
between the Staff Sgt. in charge of the OPP’s Crime Prevention Unit and local
government and business officials. I have had one of the Provincial
co-ordinators for the Seniors Assistance Unit come to Elliot Lake to discuss
how the two offices can help and complement each other.
Det./Sgt. Leslie Craig of the Seniors Assistance
Unit was very impressed and amazed with the diversity of problems that the
Seniors Issues Office deals with on a daily basis. Although from a strictly policing perspective a lot of what I
deal with is not a police matter although in a number of cases the situations
can lead to a police matter in the future.
The Seniors Issues Officer acts as a proactive policing tool that can be
used to aid officers when dealing with seniors’ issues.
I am also hoping to start implementing some of the
objectives that have not been met from the revised objectives discussed
earlier. I have begun once again to
build a volunteer base to hopefully initiate a “Senior to Senior Support
Group”. With the aid of volunteers it
is hoped that we can offer different services to those seniors that require
it: services that may currently be lacking
in Elliot Lake for whatever reasons.
Also within this support group we hope to offer assistance for victims
of crimes. I hope that we can work
closely with VCARS (Victim Crisis Assistance & Referral Service) in aiding
seniors who may not be affected by a criminal act but need assistance with
coping with numerous other day-to-day problems.
I hope to discuss this with the VCARS Board in the
future to see how we can work together on this initiative, as this is somewhat
a departure from their current mandate.
Also with the aid of the OPP I hope to be doing
in-service training of officers on seniors’ issues and dealing with seniors in
general. It is hoped that eventually I will be slated into the block training
that takes place in the first part of every year for OPP officers. I will train
officers on how to handle situations with seniors and also to give them an idea
of what my office does and how I can assist them with their job when dealing
with seniors.
The one problem being faced by the Seniors Issues
Office right now is staffing. In the
Final Evaluation Report completed in February of 1998 by Useful Research
& Consulting, Inc of Gloucester, Ontario, it was recognized that
the objectives and goals set forth in the initial proposal and subsequently
revised can not be expected to be met by one individual. Although volunteers play
a very important role in the success of maintaining this office so does
maintaining or increasing staffing levels to meet the demands of the
position. It is also my goal to
hopefully look at expanding this position locally to meet ever-increasing demands. It concerns me, as it did the evaluators,
that when the Seniors Issues Officer is ill or away for extended periods of
times i.e.: vacations, courses etc. there is no one to relieve and continue
with his duties. I believe the
importance of staffing levels needs to be addressed so that “burn out” does not
occur.
In conclusion basically the Seniors Issues Office
is one primarily of referral but also very hands on when referral is no longer
an option. As I am finding every day
there is just nowhere to refer some problems and that is when I put on my
problem solving hat and do what I can to aid the person requiring assistance.
Although I act as a liaison person between police and my clients, that being
seniors, I also act as a liaison between my clients and aiding support agencies
as well as between agencies and police.
So as you can probably guess I have to be up-to-date not only on the
policing aspect of the office but the services offered by support agencies and
institutions in general. Where an officer
may attend a call regarding a senior and find out that there is nothing
criminal happening in my role as Seniors Issues Officer I am expected to help
the senior in any way that may be required, from something as simple as
explaining charges on a utility bill to the complexities of aiding with the
process of entering a long-term care facility.
The position of Seniors Issues Officer is very
diverse and I think that is what drew me to it in the first place. If I didn’t believe that I could do the job
I never would have attempted it. There
is also a certain amount of satisfaction gained by knowing that you have
helped, maybe only in some small way, but nevertheless you made a difference. The job has its ups and downs and for the
most part is never dull.
John Gagnon
Seniors Issues Officer
East Algoma OPP, Elliot Lake Detachment