Seems like the world has a new enemy - COVID-19. Everything seems to be fast coming to a complete stop. When that happens it's even more important to pay attention to what's going on around you. Criminals don't slow down for a virus. This is also a time to not fall for a Corona Virus scam. Disasters are the specialties of scammers. They are on the phone immediately raising money to help people who are negatively impacted, selling products to make you immune to the virus or to cure it's effects once you're infected. All of these are scams and you need to be wary. Listen to what is being said by the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Also Riverstone Health is a good source for great information. Don't buy into phone scams (or internet scams).
This newsletter is taking on some new information. I am the chair of the Prevention/education sub committee of the Eastern Montana Elder Justice Council so I plan on adding events to our calendar that might be informative and help some of our council members reach out with information that will help Montanans with top notch current information about elder justice issues. This is a group that came initially from a FAST Team (originally a part of a program that Paul Greenwood - former Deputy District Attorney from San Diego). It was run by the Governor and with a stroke of a pen he created the Eastern Montana Elder Justice Council. Council members are appointed by the governor for the remainder of the year (and of course it will be up to the new governor to determine whether it will continue). This is a group that focuses on the counties in Area I and Area II of the state council on aging. This is the first of these groups that will hopefully be expanded in the future to cover the entire state. Why this council - these represent organizations and individuals that are daily working with elder abuse and financial exploitation from the US Attorney to the local non profit who works with elders. The goal is to have a group that can work with other similar organizations to share expertise and help solve cases, support quality intervention efforts and provide up to date information for the public and other organizations. Stay tuned as we will have more information in the coming months.
During this trying time - stay safe and hopefully like so many other problems, this too will pass.
Alex E. Ward, CPP
Board Certified in Security Management (American Society for Industrial Security)
MCPA in conjunction with the Yellowstone County DUI Task Force and Q2 produced these DUI PSA's. They paint a sad picture of DUI in Montana and have been viewed on television as well as on you tube. This is one way we can educate folks as to things they need to know about crime.
