CANADA: More elderly residents reporting abuse in Peel

. BRAMPTON, Ontario / The Brampton Guardian / April 3, 2009 By Pam Douglas There has been a spike in the number of cases of elder abuse reported to Peel police in the past two years. Police investigated 66 reports of elderly residents being abused in 2008 and 54 in 2007, up from just six in 2006. But investigators believe the increase can be explained, in part, because officers were not properly classifying reports of elder abuse in the past. "An analysis of elder abuse occurrences in 2006 revealed that some incidents were improperly identified on occurrence reports and, as such, not included in the statistics," according to a report to the Peel Police Services Board written by elder abuse coordinator Const. Lori Betts. "This resulted in inaccurate totals." Officers were trained in the fall of 2006 to address the classification issue. Peel police define an "elderly" person as anyone 60 years of age or older. There are 165,325 residents in Peel who fall into that category, or 14 per cent of the population. The report did not supply statistics on how many of the reported incidents resulted in criminal charges. However, the report did identify a 43 per cent increase in the number of "vulnerable" residents reported missing last year, including those with medical issues and developmental challenges. There were 134 vulnerable residents reported missing in 2008, up from 94 in 2007. Of those 134, 17 of the victims had a developmental challenge while the rest suffered from other conditions such as fetal alcohol syndrome, Down's syndrome, autism, and other mental/physical illnesses. Betts spoke to 50 groups throughout Brampton and Mississauga last year, educating approximately 1,500 residents about the issues surrounding elder/vulnerable adult abuse. © Copyright 1996 - 2007 Metroland Media Group Ltd.