17th Annual Maryland TRIAD/SALT Conference

This is Crime Prevention Month and today, I attended a wonderful conference for the Maryland TRIAD/SALT organizations. It was held in Bethesda, Maryland and in spite of intermittent violent rain storms, traffic jams, detours and errors in the Mapquest directions, I arrived at the conference location, although three hours after I left home, on a trip that normally takes an hour and a quarter.



In between, I erroneously checked in at the Bethesda Police Headquarters, narrowly avoided a ticket at the Police parking lot, sneaked through the Hyatt Regency Hotel, jay-walked through crowds of people, and huffed and puffed through several steep sets of stairs.



But it was all worth it. The presentations were related to Senior Citizen issues and were professionally done and very informative. I'll try to say a little about some of them.



The Bethesda Division Chief told us about some of the things that some Police Departments are doing to get crime under control in their areas. One method is by monitoring criminals by placing GPS tracking devices on their autos, without them knowing about it.



State Delegate Ben Kramer spoke about Senior Citizen legislation. He mentioned that Maryland is now the only state to criminalize "undue influence" over seniors.



He also mentioned the "Silver Alert" legislation that provides for State and local police alerts by radio, TV and signs when a person with cognitive impairment goes missing. Besides Alzheimer patients, this could also pertain to autistic children. It is very important that such a missing person be found within 24 hours.. longer than that, chances are that they will not survive.



Delegate Kramer is currently trying to get stiffer penalties for criminals who victimize seniors.



Michael Lachance, head of the Maryland Department of Aging spoke about programs to assist seniors staying in their homes ("aging in place"). Over 500 people in Maryland have been relocated back into the community from nursing homes.



Mike mentioned that 20 years from now over 50% of the population will have cognitive impairment.



Mike is involved with the MAP program (Maryland Access Point) implemented in Howard County. MAP is a single point for adults 50 and over and adults 18 and over, with disabilities, to receive information and assistance in obtaining available benefits and services.



Joy Hatchette, of the Maryland Insurance Administration gave a very informative talk about four types of insurance:



Automobile; House; Life; Long Term Care.



She gave us tips about each and brochures that tell us all we need to know about each type of insurance. (I invited her to speak to some of my Senior organizations. She lives in Reisterstown and therefore, it will be easy for her to comply.)



During lunch, Nurse Anna Stokes of the Suburban Hospital, talked to us about nutrition for seniors and the risk factors that increase the chances of developing a disease or having it worsen.



1. Smoking.

2. High blood pressure.

3. High blood cholesterol.

4. Obesity.

5. Lack of physical activity.

6. Diabetes.



She recommended not smoking, following a heart healthy eating plan, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight. She gave us a lot of information about how to do these things.



Claude Nelson of the Maryland Crime Prevention Institute talked about the current drug situation with prescriptions and over the counter drugs. Our young people are taking risks with their lives but don't seem to realize it. Claude is involved with the DARE Program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education).

http://www.dare.com/


Public Transportation Safety Officer Weatherspoon of the Metro Police told us about how his organization is working to protect people using public transportation in the DC area. We all need to practise Situation Awareness.

Matthew Kelleher, Fire and Rescue, talked about fire safety and told us what we need to know about smoke detectors. Some now have built-in batteries that last for ten years! I mentioned my problem with the detector that was installed over our stove and that we have 25 detectors in our house. I just counted, and I may have been a little high.. we have 15 of a couple of kinds, plus a carbon monoxide detector.

Ralph Vines of the Montgomery County Consumer Protection office gave us examples of the scams that people in that County have referred to his office. Some of them:

Bad contractors.
Driveways. Chimneys. Roofing.
Phoney awards.
Phoney checks to cash.
Educational tapes hook.
Work at home.
Shopping jobs.
"Lifetime" guarantees.
Funeral coverage.

I mentioned the "assassin scam". Nobody had heard of that yet.

The officers involved in putting on this conference did a great job in my opinion. I remember from last year how much work is involved and they made it look easy.

I took a lot of the handouts and will be discussing all of the crime issues with our Westminster, Maryland TRIAD/SALT organization.