Reducing Doorstep Crime Sample Clauses

Reducing Doorstep Crime. Doorstep crime is a major problem throughout the UK and older adults in particular are at risk from bogus callers and doorstep rogue traders, the typical victim being an 81 year old female who lives alone. Although anyone can be a victim of doorstep crime there are vulnerability factors present in the case of older people which make them more likely to be victimised. The majority of doorstep crime offenders are ruthless professionals, highly trained criminals, who specialise in committing crimes against older vulnerable adults in the isolation of their own homes. Older people can be more vulnerable as they can be socially isolated, many of them keep large sums of money in the house, and approaches from skilled doorstep callers can lead to them handing over large sums of money for unnecessary goods. In 2005, the working age (16-64 years) population of Lancashire made up 64% of the population and those aged 65 years and over made up 17%. People aged 50 years or over made up over a third of the population (36%), and the proportion of elderly people is increasing. The Doorstep Crime Initiative was launched in 2003 and since then complaints in Lancashire have increased slowly year on year. In 2003-4, 182 complaints were received compared with 280 complaints between April 2007 and March 2008 specifically relating to doorstep callers. Although our ultimate objective is to reduce instances of doorstep crime in the County, complaint levels were expected to rise initially particularly in view of the education and awareness work that has been carried out amongst our partners and older people, to encourage greater levels of reporting of incidents. However, in Lancashire we are looking to prevent the opportunity for offenders to be able to identify vulnerable adults in the first place. This view is in line with the public’s, as shown by a survey of 8000 householders nationally, carried out by the Trading Standards Institute in 2003 which indicated that 96% of them did not want doorstep sellers cold calling. In response, Lancashire has established No Cold Calling Zones in 14 areas of Lancashire (covering in the region of 5000 homes). In these areas, the residents have banded together to say No to Uninvited Salespeople. Such schemes have been established with the support of neighbourhood organisations, the Police and Trading Standards and warn traders in the area that the residents will not do business with them over the doorstep. When surveyed, 104 out of 118 residents ...