Seniors in rural areas prime targets for criminals

Getting involved in crime watch helps reduce vulnerability

If you think crime only happens in the big city, think again, police say.

“People live under the illusion that just because they live outside the city, nothing’s going to happen to them,” said RCMP Const. Alan Pasquini. “That couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Pasquini, who has served with the Headingley detachment for the past eight years, said seniors are the main target for criminals because they often live alone, have more money than younger people, and have minimal family contact.

A Headingley woman, who asked to remain anonymous, was the victim of a break-in earlier this month. It happened on a Saturday afternoon, while she was away.

The woman, who lives alone, came home to find her house ransacked.

“I feel very violated,” she said. “They went in every room of the house, they went everywhere.”

The worst part of the break-in was that the thieves took her most prized possession – her deceased husband’s favourite watch.

“How do you make a claim for that? How do you assess something that precious?” she said.

A week after the incident, the woman said she still doesn’t feel safe in her own home.

“I’ve got the feeling I’ve been watched.”

She reported the crime to the RCMP immediately, but many people choose not to, Pasquini said.

That’s a big problem for the RCMP, he said.

“A lot of people become very, very embarrassed when they’ve been taken advantage of,” he said.

He said people should come forward if they have been victims of a crime, so that action can be taken, and to help prevent other people from being victimized in the same way.

“Just because you’ve been taken advantage of once, doesn’t mean you have to be again,” he said.

Pasquini said one of the best defences rural communities have is the Rural Crime Watch. Of the 18,000 people in the area covered by the detachment, 1,900 are Rural Crime Watch members.

Most of the co-ordinators are senior citizens.

“They have the time and the experience, and they’re concerned about their neighbours,” Pasquini said.

One of the goals of encouraging seniors to join the crime watch is to keep them involved in the community, Pasquini said.

“It helps seniors stay active, which gives them less chance of becoming a victim,” he said. “We want (seniors) to feel like (they’re) part of the community.”

He said it’s important that families remember their elders and visit as much as possible. The more time seniors spend alone, the more vulnerable they are, he said.

But relatives can’t be there all of the time, and Pasquini encourages people to call the RCMP if they need them.

“We want people to feel like they aren’t alone,” he said. “There is somebody else out there who cares.”