No Equal Justice for Victims of Elder Financial Abuse.*

The Grand Jury finds some local law enforcement agencies do not consistently collect data to track elder financial abuse cases received from APS, making it impossible to determine if these cases are fully investigated or referred to the DA for prosecution. (R3) The City of Sacramento disagrees partially with the finding. The City agrees that the current computer records management systems are unable to capture, in aggregate, the number of referrals made from a variety of sources. In addition, individual cases are examined, evaluated, investigated, and referred to the District Attorney's office based on the unique and individual facts of each case making tracking difficult without better systems. However, each case record is maintained and can be reviewed in accordance with the law.

The Grand Jury finds law enforcement agencies in Sacramento County are not placing as much priority on elder financial abuse as other types of elder abuse, allowing abusers to avoid consequences. (R6) The city of Sacramento agrees with the finding. Unfortunately, the declining staffing levels at both the Sacramento Police Department, and law enforcement agencies for major metropolitan police departments throughout the United States, have forced departments to triage and prioritize reported crimes. In the spectrum of providing for public safety, crimes of violence take precedence over financial crimes. Whether this results in financial abusers avoiding consequences is unknown.

The Grand Jury Finds several of the law enforcement agencies in Sacramento County lack dedicated detectives with specialized training in the investigation of eider financial abuse and as a result many abusers are not being held accountable. (R8) The City of Sacramento disagrees partially with the finding. While it is correct that the Sacramento Police Department does not have a detective dedicated solely to elder financial abuse, all of the Sacramento Police Department Burglary Detectives have a variety of training, experience, and necessary skill sets to investigate fraud cases, whether or not they involve an elderly victim. One of our current detectives has a greater degree of expertise in financial crimes and is assigned the more complex fraud cases. When investigative criteria are met, regardless of the victim's age, that case is investigated and submitted to the District Attorney's office for consideration for filing in order to hold the suspect accountable.

The Grand Jury finds local uniformed law enforcement officers do not receive continuing education and training in how to recognize the signs of elder financial abuse, thereby allowing abusers to continue their victimization without consequences. (R9) The City of Sacramento disagrees partially with the finding. Every sworn officer in the Sacramento Police Department has attended the 6 hours of California Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) training included in Learning Domain 7, Crimes Against Persons/Death Investigations. Furthermore, in its academy the Department provides nine additional hours of training, with a portion focusing on elder abuse incidents, including financial crime-related offenses. This is reinforced with practical experience during each new officer's Field Training period. Sacramento Police Officers are equipped and skilled to detect elder financial abuse in the field. POST specifically identifies and prescribes critical perishable skill training for peace officers that must be delivered during Continued Professional Training (CPT) annually to each officer in the department. Elder fraud abuse is not one of those areas identified by POST, nor do they have a curriculum on this narrow crime category available. F 13. The Grand Jury finds that there is insufficient community outreach by agencies within Sacramento County to educate elder citizens and their families and caregivers about financial abuse, so the signs of abuse may not be recognized. (R13) The City of Sacramento disagrees partially with the finding. While more communication with the pubic from law enforcement agencies on public safety topics is seen by the Sacramento Police Department as a positive and useful step, it is impossible to determine what metric for communication could be used to measure and determine what would be "sufficient" or "insufficient" in any crime category. The Sacramento Police Department has used traditional media, social media, and community meetings to consistently educate the public on current criminal tactics involving fraud and how to protect vulnerable populations including elderly citizens. <b>B. RECOMMENDATIONS</b>