The landlord detects a terrible odor from the elderly man’s Brooklyn apartment, and finds him severely dehydrated, with painful bedsores, and living in squalor. At the hospital, a young man identifies himself as a nephew who takes care of the man. But he provides no care at all, and instead helps himself to his uncle’s bank account.

While extreme and outrageous, this is not a unique story. Crimes against older people largely go unreported. In recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, June 15, 2009, I am calling on our communities to observe, ask questions, and report elder abuse.

Elder abuse is a hidden crime. Experts agree that public awareness of elder abuse today is similar to public perceptions of intimate partner domestic violence crimes prior to the 1970’s. Our older adults helped build our communities, yet their mistreatment or outright physical and financial victimization is often unnoticed—or worse, noticed and ignored. Ageism, lack of awareness and, especially when the abuser is a blood relative, feelings of shame, guilt and isolation, prevent the reporting of abuse.

Law enforcement and advocates have joined together to launch several excellent initiatives right here in Brooklyn. After I began to see an increase in crimes against the elderly, I created an Elder Abuse Unit in 1999, to prosecute these crimes, which are almost always committed by a family member or by a person the older adult trusts. This emotional relationship between victim and the abuser requires a highly individualized approach that holds the abuser accountable, while focusing on the older person’s safety, as well as on his or her physical, financial and emotional well-being. Many times, the family member who is abusing the victim is offered an opportunity to attend a substance abuse or mental health program in lieu of incarceration, where appropriate. These programs help the offenders to stop engaging in their abusive behavior, which is what the victims of these crimes want.

Many defendants have serious drug or alcohol addictions, or untreated mental illness. Often unemployed, they demand and take the victim’s money. They may threaten to put the victim in a nursing home, withhold medication, or isolate the victim from his loved ones. They may demand or coerce a victim into transferring title to the victim’s home. Cases too often involve physical abuse – a punch, a kick, a slap. With elderly victims, it does not take bone-breaking violence or relentless emotional abuse to cause physical or emotional trauma. When an abuser deliberately breaks a beloved keepsake, a decades-old photograph for example, it can hurt as much as a shove.

In collaboration with NYPD and community based organizations, we continue to make improvements in how we protect the elderly. At the Brooklyn Family Justice Center, older victims obtain Family Court Orders of Protection without having to sit in court all day. In some cases, victims speak to a judge by telephone from their own homes, or hospital beds. Every day my office works with city and private agencies, and NYPD domestic violence officers, who visit older victims in their homes, to assess their safety and help them access social services. DV officers and social workers are our eyes and ears in the community. Together, we create safety plans with our victims, and support them during and after the criminal prosecution.

There are other bright lights. It is now a felony crime in New York State if an abuser is 10 or more years younger than the senior and has injured the senior. And on the national front, the Elder Justice Act seems to be gaining traction in Congress for the first time in 30 years. Once passed, this will unify our efforts nationwide.