NSW Police and elder abuse

NSW Police advises ‘You will be taken seriously’

One of the highest-ranking officers in the NSW Police Force, Assistant Commissioner Gavin Wood APM, describes the data and statistics relating to elder abuse ‘as alarming in anyone’s language’.

‘We want people to feel confident to come forward, and they will be taken seriously, absolutely.’

As a detective, Assistant Commissioner Wood had firsthand experience investigating elder abuse. Some cases he dealt with involved family members, ‘and you sit back and you think, really, how does this happen? How does this happen?’

‘Elderly people are so vulnerable at times with their financial handlings and, to be perfectly honest, relatives robbing them.

‘A lot of the times family members or people known to the elderly are the offenders. It makes you sick to the stomach, to be honest.’

Don’t hesitate: speak up

He says the time to stay silent if anyone suspects elder abuse is over.

‘Don't sit on information or a gut feel. Let the police know. We're trained; we're the ones that can make that qualified decision and act accordingly.

‘It may be a situation that we engage detectives, a Crime Prevention officer, or it may be a situation that we engage another government agency or an external agency, but we can't do that unless we have that information.’

With 38 years’ experience in the force, Assistant Commissioner Wood leads New South Wales’s response to elder abuse and North West Metropolitan Command, one of the biggest (by population) and most culturally diverse regions in the state. 

He describes tackling elder abuse as a ‘priority’ and ‘well and truly in our sights’.

‘It's no secret we are evolving in terms of our business, how we approach elderly abuse and the treatment of our elderly,’ Assistant Commissioner Wood told Compass.

Specialised training in elder abuse awareness

When Compass first spoke to the NSW Police in 2022, the force was trialling Aged Crime Prevention Officers in 12 locations. Those positions have now been dissolved.

‘There were only 12 positions in the initial trial process, but we made a decision organisationally that we needed to uplift not just 12 police officers, we needed to uplift the organisation in terms of education, training and service delivery.’

Assistant Commissioner Wood says the NSW Police’s approach to dealing with elder abuse has ‘now gone back to the absolute embryo stage of policing’.

New recruits now receive ‘vulnerable communities training as a significant part of their training’ while they are at the NSW Police Force Academy in Goulburn. Assistant Commissioner Wood says this includes ‘identifying different aspects of elderly abuse, physical, financial and psychological’. Specialists are also brought in as part of the training and development of educational resources.

‘We're going to external organisations, and we're seeking their counsel, their input, in terms of the training.’

Crime Prevention officers present police trainees with case studies of some of the real-life situations they might face to prepare a new generation of police for ‘a really good range of different crime, so not just the physical abuse that people might recognise pretty quickly, but we're talking about also financial abuse, coercion, exploitation and neglect, and that's really important. I think it's just giving that that lived experience.

‘You have students in their absolute infancy. They haven't been out as operational policing, so they see that real-life and real, tangible experiences from people who have dealt with it. It resonates better, and it really sets that tone, to build that cultural position.

‘You've got to have the visibility, the exposure, and that mindset about helping the elderly people.’

Your first port of call

‘We are, to be perfectly blunt and honest, the go-to in terms of the first port of call in a lot of instances,’ Assistant Commissioner Wood told Compass.

He said there is a Crime Prevention unit in every police area command, with police especially trained to deal with vulnerable communities ‘and they also deal with issues like domestic and family violence, elderly abuse, mental health, our LGBTIQ+ communities’.

‘Give them the information that you have, whether it be anecdotal, whether it be factual, whether it be tangible, and they will make an assessment.’

Assistant Commissioner Wood said training to deal with elder abuse is still being developed for a rollout across the whole of the NSW Police Force: ‘an awareness piece for every sworn police officer and unsworn police officer in the organisation, which is something that hasn't been done historically’.

About NSW Police

There are over 21,000 people in the New South Wales Police, 19,000 sworn and over 2,000 unsworn.

While granting an hour-long interview and responses to follow up questions, the NSW Police Force was unable to provide Compass with specific data relating to elder abuse. The questions submitted by Compass to the NSW Police Force included:

• What data do you have specifically on elder abuse?

• What other data do you have that may refer to the incidence of elder abuse, for example, referral to other agencies?

• How many and what types of cases of elder abuse have proceeded to court?

• What have been the outcomes?

• Are you seeing trends in terms of prevalence?

Assistant Commissioner Wood said police in every state and territory share trends, insights and programme effectiveness through the Australian New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) ‘and they collate, co-ordinate and set strategic direction’.

He said ANZPAA is an ‘extremely significant organisation’ with international holdings and knowledge which ‘we can utilise and tap into and is a significant help us’.

Reports to Ageing & Disability Commission rising

The NSW Ageing and Disability Commission (ADC) says the number of reports it has received relating to elder abuse have increased two-fold (108%) in the past 5 years and are continuing to rise year-on-year.

Between 2019 and 2024, the ADC received 14,451 reports about abuse of older people. Of those reports, 67% related to the abuse and neglect of older women – 63% by relatives, mostly adult children, and 13% by former or current partners.[i]

Helplines

In an emergency, always call 000.

• Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000

• NSW Police Assistance Line 131 444

• Ageing and Disability Abuse Helpline 1800 628 221

• 1800 ELDERHelp (1800 353 374)