I received a good suggestion today from a senior aged care executive in regard to the role of police attending call-outs by residents. There are many occasions when people with dementia engage police patrols to attend their aged care facility in relation to “stolen items”.
The police are often called to find these stolen items only to discover they are in fact ‘misplaced items’ that have been put in a different drawer by mistake.The patrols are obliged to attend these incidents which are often a waste of time and police resources.
The suggestion was to have dedicated police that could handle this type of situation on the lower end of the urgency scale.
Perhaps older police members that have dementia/aged care training? The call out could be handled by a single member (as opposed to a pair) and perhaps be an excellent role for someone nearing retirement age.
I thought this was a positive and proactive idea that may be suitable for our ageing population.
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