The Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act
Status of the Triad Program Gao ID: GAO-05-146R November 23, 2004The Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act of 2000 directed the Comptroller General to submit a report to Congress on the effectiveness of the Triad program by April 4, 2005. The program, sponsored at the national level by the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA), provides advice, training, and technical assistance to communitybased crime prevention programs for senior citizens but does not fund them. These community-based groups typically are partnerships among local law enforcement officials, seniors, and sometimes other community members to develop and expand crime prevention programs for seniors in their communities. NSA has sponsored the Triad program with funds provided by various Department of Justice (DOJ) grants. The act's provisions included support for the Triad senior fraud prevention program, the dissemination of information to states to raise awareness about the dangers of telemarketing and sweepstakes fraud, and mandates to study crimes against seniors and to collect statistics on crimes disproportionately affecting seniors. With regard to our report, the act specified that it include an analysis of the Triad program and activities, identify impediments to establishing community-based Triad groups across the nation, and make recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the Triad program. In January 2004, NSA received grant funds to continue its Triad program. However, by October 2004, an NSA official told us that they had not completed all their planned activities. In addition, data were not available to determine the effectiveness of the Triad program. Therefore, this letter describes (1) how the Triad program operates at the local level and (2) the current status of NSA's program implementation. In addition, we are providing information on the status of DOJ mandates in the act regarding data on certain crimes against seniors.
NSA publications note that local Triad groups focus on developing partnerships between law enforcement officials and seniors to reduce crime by increasing crime awareness and enhancing law enforcement services, and the structure of these partnerships varies by community. According to NSA's Triad handbook, local Triad groups can develop and implement different programs to meet their respective communities' needs regarding senior crime prevention. According to NSA Triad publications, the structure of local Triad groups is flexible and can vary by the senior population and jurisdiction of law enforcement authorities in the geographic area. In less populated rural areas, there may be only a few law enforcement officers from a single organization available to be involved with Triad activities. In urban areas, there are potentially dozens of law enforcement agencies that could participate in Triad activities. NSA officials told us that in addition to linking law enforcement officials and seniors, local Triad groups could also include other community members, such as social service providers for seniors, local government representatives, business community members, health care providers, and clergy. An NSA official told us that they are currently taking steps to support local Triad groups by increasing training opportunities and further expanding the number of communities participating in the Triad program. Specifically, in November 2003, NSA had received a grant in the amount of $993,497 from DOJ's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) for the Triad program, but as of October 2004, an NSA official told us that they had not yet implemented all of the activities outlined in the grant documents, such as revising the Triad handbook.
GAO-05-146R, The Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act: Status of the Triad Program
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November 23, 2004:
The Honorable Orin G. Hatch:
Chairman:
The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy:
Ranking Minority Member:
Committee on the Judiciary:
United States Senate:
The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.
Chairman:
The Honorable John Conyers Jr.:
Ranking Minority Member:
Committee on the Judiciary:
House of Representatives:
Subject: The Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act: Status of the Triad
Program:
The Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act of 2000 directed the Comptroller
General to submit a report to Congress on the effectiveness of the
Triad program by April 4, 2005.[Footnote 1] The program, sponsored at
the national level by the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA),
provides advice, training, and technical assistance to community-based
crime prevention programs for senior citizens but does not fund them.
These community-based groups typically are partnerships among local law
enforcement officials, seniors, and sometimes other community members
to develop and expand crime prevention programs for seniors in their
communities. NSA has sponsored the Triad program with funds provided by
various Department of Justice (DOJ) grants.[Footnote 2]
The act's provisions included support for the Triad senior fraud
prevention program, the dissemination of information to states to raise
awareness about the dangers of telemarketing and sweepstakes fraud, and
mandates to study crimes against seniors and to collect statistics on
crimes disproportionately affecting seniors. With regard to our report,
the act specified that it include an analysis of the Triad program and
activities, identify impediments to establishing community-based Triad
groups across the nation, and make recommendations to improve the
effectiveness of the Triad program. In January 2004, NSA received grant
funds to continue its Triad program. However, by October 2004, an NSA
official told us that they had not completed all their planned
activities. In addition, data were not available to determine the
effectiveness of the Triad program. Therefore, this letter describes
(1) how the Triad program operates at the local level and (2) the
current status of NSA's program implementation. In addition, we are
providing information on the status of DOJ mandates in the act
regarding data on certain crimes against seniors (see enclosure I).
To describe how the Triad program operates and the status of NSA's
program implementation, we interviewed knowledgeable federal officials
familiar with, or responsible for, the Triad program, NSA officials,
and representatives from national associations affiliated with the
Triad program. We also gathered and summarized documents regarding the
Triad program, including handbooks, conference brochures, and Web-based
information published by NSA. We also interviewed representatives of
two local Triad groups to better understand how some local programs
operate. To determine the status of the DOJ mandates in the act, we
interviewed officials from DOJ's National Institute of Justice and
Bureau of Justice Statistics. We asked officials from DOJ and NSA to
review excerpts of this letter for accuracy and clarity before its
final issuance and these officials agreed with the information as
presented. We performed our work between June and November 2004.
Background:
According to NSA publications, the Triad program goals are to prevent
criminal victimization of older persons and reduce unwarranted fear of
crime through partnerships among law enforcement agencies and criminal
justice and senior citizen groups. The Triad program was conceived at
the national level in 1988 when representatives from AARP, the
International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and NSA agreed to
partner to help ensure senior safety.[Footnote 3] The term "Triad"
derives from the affiliation of these three organizations. At that
time, representatives from these organizations agreed that a community-
based partnership of law enforcement, seniors, and others working
together could reduce crimes against seniors by increasing crime
awareness and information sharing among seniors, and enhancing law
enforcement services to seniors. The first local, community-based Triad
was established in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, in 1989.
By the mid-1990s, AARP and IACP had decided to curtail active
involvement at the national level. AARP and IACP representatives told
us that at that time, their organizational priorities had shifted to
other projects. NSA, however, remained active in sponsoring the Triad
program and received several DOJ grants in varying amounts.[Footnote 4]
These grants supported various efforts over the years to develop and
expand the Triad program by increasing its capabilities in information
sharing, technical assistance, and training. According to NSA
publications, by 1999 there were an estimated 600 communities in 47
states that had started local Triad programs. That same year, NSA
formed a tax-exempt affiliate, the National Association of Triads, Inc.
(NATI), as a vehicle to accept charitable donations, solicit corporate
support, and apply for foundation grants. NATI provides training and
technical assistance to community-based senior crime prevention
programs. NSA and its affiliate, NATI, do not provide funding to local
community-based Triad groups. Local Triad groups may be supported with
direct funding from federal, state, or local government sources, as
well as other funding.
In November 2000, Congress passed the Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act
of 2000 citing concerns that seniors--one of the most rapidly growing
segments of our society--are too frequently the victims of violent
crime, property crime, and consumer and telemarketing fraud. Congress
found that seniors are often targeted and retargeted in a range of
fraudulent schemes. The findings section of the act stated that
Congress should continue to support Triad and similar community
partnerships that improve safety and quality of life for seniors. Among
other things, the act directed DOJ:
* to conduct a study relating to crimes against seniors in order to
assist in developing new strategies to prevent and reduce the incidence
of these crimes and,
* to include statistics in its National Crime Victimization Survey
regarding crimes disproportionately affecting seniors, crime risk
factors for seniors, and specific characteristics of victims of crimes
who are seniors.[Footnote 5]
How Does the Triad Program Operate at the Local Level?
NSA publications note that local Triad groups focus on developing
partnerships between law enforcement officials and seniors to reduce
crime by increasing crime awareness and enhancing law enforcement
services, and the structure of these partnerships varies by community.
According to NSA's Triad handbook, local Triad groups can develop and
implement different programs to meet their respective communities'
needs regarding senior crime prevention. The handbook notes that some
local Triad groups have developed adopt-a-senior programs, in which law
enforcement officers "adopt" one or more seniors in vulnerable
situations with limited family support or who are confined to their
homes because of limited mobility or medical problems. Officers are
expected to visit or call once a week and make referrals to appropriate
service agencies if necessary. Further, the handbook cites other
programs such as the "file of life" program, which is a brightly
colored card with medical and other vital information to be mounted
magnetically on the seniors' refrigerators for use by emergency
personnel.
According to NSA Triad publications, the structure of local Triad
groups is flexible and can vary by the senior population and
jurisdiction of law enforcement authorities in the geographic area. In
less populated rural areas, there may be only a few law enforcement
officers from a single organization available to be involved with Triad
activities. In urban areas, there are potentially dozens of law
enforcement agencies that could participate in Triad activities. NSA
officials told us that in addition to linking law enforcement officials
and seniors, local Triad groups could also include other community
members, such as social service providers for seniors, local government
representatives, business community members, health care providers, and
clergy. Local Triad groups have also included officials from
prosecutorial agencies, such as district attorneys and attorneys
general. These officials have assisted in prosecuting crimes against
seniors who have been victimized. NSA's Triad handbook encourages local
Triad groups to have a signed formal agreement outlining
responsibilities for each member and to form a senior advisory council
that could assess the needs of the community and collaboratively
develop ways to meet those needs. Further, Triad publications state
that partnerships can be formed at the city, county, or state level.
NSA representatives told us that local Triad groups are one of many
approaches and programs providing crime prevention education, awareness
training, and assistance services to seniors at the community level.
Some other crime prevention programs for seniors use a similar approach
by creating multiagency task forces with law enforcement and others to
combat crime against seniors. For example, multiagency task forces have
been created to investigate financial exploitation cases and include
local representatives from law enforcement, insurance, real estate,
criminal law, investment, and social service providers for seniors. The
NSA handbook encourages local Triad groups not to duplicate existing
services provided in their communities, but to work on "filling in the
gaps" in existing services, such as identifying senior victims who may
not be reporting crimes or developing strategies to determine how
seniors can be better served.
What Is the Current Status of NSA's Program Implementation?
An NSA official told us that they are currently taking steps to support
local Triad groups by increasing training opportunities and further
expanding the number of communities participating in the Triad program.
Specifically, in November 2003, NSA had received a grant in the amount
of $993,497 from DOJ's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
(COPS) for the Triad program, but as of October 2004, an NSA official
told us that they had not yet implemented all of the activities
outlined in the grant documents, such as revising the Triad handbook.
This grant resulted from a recommendation in a House conference report
accompanying the 2003 appropriation directing that DOJ review a
proposal to provide $1 million dollars for the Triad senior fraud
prevention program and provide a grant if warranted.[Footnote 6] An
across-the-board rescission included in the fiscal year 2003
appropriation reduced the $1 million amount to $993,497.[Footnote 7]
NSA officials told us that they began using these funds in January
2004. As of June 2004, NSA had expended about $182,000, or about 18
percent of its grant funds awarded, on activities such as sponsoring
conferences for local Triad groups, making improvements to its Web
site, and revising its program handbook.
As stated in NSA's implementation plan for the grant, the objectives
were to support local Triad groups by increasing the number of training
opportunities and expand the number of communities participating in the
Triad program. To accomplish these objectives, NSA outlined four
initiatives:
* Model program guides. Develop model program guides to highlight about
a dozen model community programs that lend themselves to replication in
other communities. These model programs include adopt-a-senior, elder
lecture series, and senior police academies.
* Publications and Web site. Disseminate information on Triad,
including the Triad implementation handbook, brochures, and listing of
existing Triad groups through hard-copy publications and its Web site.
Redesign the Triad Web site to provide information for local Triads.
* Information sharing and technical assistance. Sponsor conferences to
train and assist local Triad groups and develop curricula to help law
enforcement work with seniors and senior groups to combat financial
crime against seniors.
* Building community. Contact existing Triad groups to ascertain their
status and, if they are active, capture information regarding
leadership, programs, and activities. Develop protocols for membership
or registration of individual local Triad groups.
In August 2004, COPS approved a no-cost extension of the NSA grant
agreement through August 2005 in order to complete the Triad program
objectives over a longer time period and produce additional resource
materials beyond those originally agreed to in the implementation plan.
These materials include publishing a series of Triad fact sheets on the
program's Web site to increase awareness of particular issues, such as
identity theft, elder abuse, and telemarketing fraud. As of October
2004, an NSA representative reported, among other things, that the
Triad model program guides and Triad handbook were in the process of
being developed, the program's Web site was in the process of being
redesigned, three of the four planned Triad conferences had been held,
and eight statewide Triad conferences had been supported in varying
degrees by NSA representatives.
An NSA representative told us that by the end of the grant period, in
August 2005, NSA expects to have an up-to-date listing of active Triad
groups nationwide. The representative told us that NSA's list of over
840 local Triad groups as of July 2004 was not current, and the
representative estimates that about 50 percent of these Triad groups
are active. He said that since funding levels for the Triad program
have not been consistent over the years, NSA has not had the staff to
maintain contact with local Triad groups to know how many active Triad
groups exist nationwide. The representative estimated that in addition
to these local Triad groups, about 10 to 15 statewide groups are
active.
As agreed with your office, we are sending copies of this letter to the
Attorney General, interested congressional committees, NSA, and other
interested parties. We will also provide copies to others on request.
In addition, the letter will be available at no charge on the GAO Web
site at http://www.gao.gov.
If you or your staff have any questions or need additional information,
please contact me at (202) 512-8777, ekstrandl@gao.gov, or John Mortin
at mortinj@gao.gov.
Major contributors to this letter were Nancy Kawahara, Dorian Dunbar,
Wil Holloway, Nancy Finley, and Amy Bernstein.
Signed by:
Laurie E. Ekstrand:
Director, Homeland Security and Justice:
Enclosure:
Enclosure I:
Status of DOJ Mandates in the Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act of
2000:
Among other things, the Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act directed the
Department of Justice (DOJ) to (1) conduct a study relating to crimes
against seniors in order to assist in developing new strategies to
prevent and reduce the incidence of these crimes and (2) include
statistics in its National Crime Victimization Survey regarding crimes
disproportionately affecting seniors, crime risk factors for seniors,
and specific characteristics of victims of crimes who are
seniors.[Footnote 8]
Regarding the first mandate, DOJ's National Institute of Justice
officials told us that they have two projects under way. The first
project is to identify best practices for responding to crimes against
seniors and for preventing the occurrence of these crimes, as well as
an overview of the effectiveness of damage awards in court actions and
other means by which seniors may receive reimbursement for losses due
to fraud. The second project is to measure the nature and extent of
fraud against seniors using national crime data. Specifically, the
study is to examine (1) the most common types of crimes that affect
seniors; (2) the nature and extent of telemarketing, sweepstakes, and
repair fraud against seniors; (3) the nature and extent of financial
and material fraud targeting seniors; and (4) the risk factors
associated with seniors who have been victimized. According to a
National Institute of Justice official, these projects are expected to
result in two reports scheduled for issuance in February 2005.
With regard to the second mandate, DOJ officials noted that National
Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) statistics related to crimes against
seniors were posted on their Bureau of Justice Statistics Web site as
of July 2004. DOJ officials also noted a 2000 DOJ study, which reported
that while persons aged 65 and older experienced less crime in general
than others, the elderly were disproportionately affected by property
crimes. Using NCVS data, the report indicated that 9 out of 10 crimes
against the elderly were property crimes, compared with 4 in 10 crimes
against persons aged 12 to 24 years.[Footnote 9] These data and other
statistics on crimes against seniors can be found at http://
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cpa6597.htm.
(440338):
FOOTNOTES
[1] The Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act was passed by Congress on
November 22, 2000, as P.L. 106-534 (2000). Section 3 of the act
required that the Comptroller General submit a report to Congress 180
days prior to the expiration of the authorization under the act (i.e.,
the end of fiscal year 2005 or September 30, 2005), which we calculate
to be April 4, 2005.
[2] NSA is a nonprofit national organization of law enforcement and
criminal justice professionals, including sheriffs and their deputies,
and chiefs of police. NSA's goal is to raise the level of
professionalism among those in the criminal justice field.
[3] AARP was formerly known as the American Association of Retired
Persons.
[4] DOJ officials identified two of the most recent grants to NSA for
the Triad program. Starting in fiscal year 1997, BJA awarded grants to
NSA under the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement
Assistance Programs, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3750-3766b, and NSA used these grant
funds totaling $1,140,000 to, among other things, sponsor 13 training
conferences, publish a Triad implementation manual, and produce a
training video. In fiscal year 2002, NSA received a grant of $200,000
from DOJ's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office, which
supported a national Triad conference, 10 state conferences and
participation in events sponsored by other national associations, the
development of a Triad Web site, and the development of magazine
articles and congressional testimony. COPS awarded this grant under
Title I of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994,
42 U.S.C. §§3796dd-3796dd-8.
[5] P.L. 106-534, sec. 5 and 6. The act also directed the Department of
Health and Human Services to provide and publicly disseminate
information to each state designed to educate seniors and raise
awareness about the dangers of fraud, including telemarketing and
sweepstakes fraud (sec. 4).
[6] H. R. Conf. Rep. 108-10, accompanying the Department of Commerce,
Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations,
2003, P.L. 108-7. Although the conference report included the grant as
part of the Office of Justice Program's Byrne discretionary grant
program, DOJ officials told us that the Triad grant was awarded by and
administered through DOJ's COPS office because Triad's activities align
with COPS community policing programs.
The Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act, P.L. 106-534, the statute that
requires this study on the Triad program, authorized appropriations for
programs for the National Association of Triad in the amount of
$1,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2005. However,
according to a COPS official, the COPS office did not fund the Triad
program using this authority. Rather, COPS used its authority under
Title 1 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994,
42 U.S.C. §§3796dd-3796dd-8, to award this grant.
[7] Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, P.L. 108-7, Division
N, sec. 601, 117 Stat. 11, 550 (2003).
[8] P.L. 106-534, sec. 5, and 6.
[9] Crimes against Persons Age 65 and Older, 1992-97 (Bureau of Justice
Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice,
February 2000).
