RESEDA : Gray Squad to Help Seniors Beat Crime

Flipping through the pages of a law enforcement magazine had Los Angeles Police Capt. Val Paniccia seeing gray.

Not content to sit by and allow criminals to have an easy go at preying on the elderly in the West Valley Division, Paniccia gleaned an idea from the magazine and launched the “Gray Squad,” a new task force that will stress crime prevention among senior citizens and address a host of other needs.

“The cowards of our criminal society pick on easy victims, and I’m afraid senior citizens are some of those people,” said Paniccia, who heads the LAPD’s West Valley Division in Reseda. “They’re more susceptible to being overpowered, and they’re singled out by cowards for purse snatches and other crimes.”

So Paniccia joined forces with Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick to start the squad, which is made up of police officers, public service officials and health-care providers, as well as trained senior volunteers.

The task force’s goal is to educate the elderly on how to become “crime resistant” while providing them with access to a host of services to draw upon.

“Very often, what seniors turn to the LAPD about is not always a police issue,” Chick said. “They just don’t know where else to turn.”

Officer Iain Hamilton, who heads the squad at the West Valley Division, said so far five senior volunteers have received training to help staff a referral service that will provide the elderly with information on a laundry list of topics.

For example, elderly residents can receive information from the service on how to arrange rides to a senior citizens center so that they won’t have to spend the day home alone or how to get help from fire officials on getting smoke detectors installed inside their homes.

“We hope that the elderly that are maybe too timid to ask for help will begin turning to us so that we can give them the assistance they need,” Hamilton said.

Anita Bloom, a 71-year-old Gray Squad volunteer, said her job also involves referring seniors who have fallen victim to crimes, such as a carjacking, burglary or physical abuse, to the proper police detective.

A liaison from Chick’s office is expected to begin visiting senior apartment complexes, recreation centers and other organizations for the elderly to get the word out about the new squad, which Paniccia expects to be fully operational by early next year.

Ultimately, Paniccia said he hopes the squad will be located in a police substation that is expected to open in downtown Reseda next year.