Case Studies

CASE STUDY: 
Rother CDRP working with the local police and press

In Bexhill, the local press, in co-operation with the Rother CDRP and local Police Inspector ran a long series of crime prevention advice articles based upon the Home Office toolkits, aimed at countering "negative" reports.

CASE STUDY: 
Help the Aged HandyVan Scheme

HandyVan from Help the Aged is the home security scheme that carries out free home security checks and installs safety and security devices, including smoke alarms in older people’s homes, all free of charge. HandyVan calls at the homes of older people on low incomes who have been identified by agencies such as the police, Victim Support, Social Services or community nurses as being in need of home security improvements. A trained fitter with a fully equipped van will visit their home to assess their home security and safety needs and then install suitable products free of charge.

There are currently 37 Help the Aged HandyVans operating across the country from Inverness to Plymouth. HandyVan secures on average around 90 homes per day nationally, with each fitter visiting the homes of three older people per day.

Launched in 1995 HandyVan has so far secured around 80,000 older people’s homes – that’s more than the capacity of Old Trafford or Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Find out if a HandyVan scheme operates near you by calling 01255 473 999 or visiting www.helptheaged.org.uk/Services/SeniorSafety/_default.htm

CASE STUDY: 
Help the Aged SeniorLink Bogus Caller – Community Alarm

Most older people regard having a community alarm as the first step towards their removal to a nursing home and the loss of their independence. At SeniorLink, clients are encouraged to call for reassurance if they are fearful and / or lonely and just wish to speak to someone. All clients are contacted on their birthdays and are encouraged in addition to call into the Centre at regular intervals to check the equipment and to keep in touch. A SeniorLink unit is linked to the client’s phone and connected to Help the Aged SeniorLink Immediate Response Centre, which is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

SeniorLink is the only community alarm service in Britain that provides the equipment on a charitable basis and develops packages designed to support its client groups according to their particular need. As with all SeniorLink projects, the stigma associated with having a community alarm, is removed by packaging the service to target a specific need.

A specific package aimed at combating bogus caller crime is the SeniorLink Bogus Caller system. SeniorLink Bogus Caller offers the unique feature of a ‘door alert’ button which fitted beside the client’s front door. Help the Aged HandyVan fitters as well as partnership organisations install SeniorLink Bogus Caller packages in vulnerable older people’s homes. When suspicious of callers, the client can press the door alert button, which triggers the unit to dial into the Response Centre, thereby putting the client in immediate voice contact with an operator. The operator gives advice and support, and can initiate a search on the callers credentials – to see if they are genuine – all whilst the caller is on the doorstep.

In Thanet, the pilot area for the service in 1997, where almost half of the population are of retirement age, since the start of the pilot, there has been a sustained 65% reduction in bogus caller crime, with not one repeat victim.

Barking and Dagenham Victim Support, the police and the local authority have formed a partnership offering free home security measures to 'at risk' groups such as older people, disabled or people from minority ethnic groups in the borough. The project, which is funded by Community Safety Dimension, encourages residents to ring a hotline to find out whether they are eligible for the scheme.

If they are eligible, the police visit their home, carry out a survey and recommend security measures. Victim Support then obtains estimates for the work and finds a locksmith to carry it out, all paid for by the scheme.

In one year 179 properties were made more secure, 159 of which were low-income households. 209 people have benefited from the project, including more than 100 people over the age of 60, 59 from minority ethnic groups and 84 who have a disability.

CASE STUDY: 
Intergenerational Programme in Durham County

As part the Older Peoples Modernisation Programme, the local implementation team in County Durham had undertaken a number of Community Safety Initiatives to break down the barriers between younger and older people and reduce the fear of crime in the latter.

One project involved bringing together younger volunteers to interview older people about their experience of housing issues for a short documentary called "Home Truths". Other projects included older volunteers spending the day with children at the ‘Old Toy Room’ in Preston Hall Park, showing them how to skip and use a spinning top whilst the children dressed up in Victorian clothes. The project also led to the creation of a play, which examined the issue of fear of crime, and the prejudices that older and younger people often feel towards each other.

Both groups are represented on the multi-agency Steering Group which supports the project, and proposals are always discussed beforehand with prospective participants to ensure that it’s something that will interest them and that they will want to do. The project is co-ordinated by an intergenerational programme worker based in Age Concern’s Durham offices.

CASE STUDY: 
Strathclyde Police’s roadshow for Disabled Residents Including the Vulnerable and Elderly (DRIVE). 

The ‘DRIVE’ roadshow was launched by Strathclyde police to reduce the fear of crime for the elderly and vulnerable in the area by providing accurate information about crime and advice on how to keep safe on the streets and in their homes.

The initiative was a joint project between officers from the Community Safety Department at Motherwell Police Office and the Motherwell Disability Forum.

As well as getting advice on how to deal with bogus callers and suspicious strangers and information on basic self-defence techniques, participants were also given a free personal attack alarm and a property marking kit, which makes it easier to identify any stolen goods.