By Stephen A. Zappala, Jr., Allegheny County District Attorney
September has always been a month of change—back to school, back to work, and the end of the summer vacation season. It’s also traditionally been a time to acknowledge and celebrate the valuable contributions that our senior centers make to the community during Senior Center Month.
During September, staff from my office plan to visit in person with older adults in the county and share in the celebration. We also want to continue our conversations about how we have changed our justice system to better meet the needs of our older population—in particular, helping to protect our residents from crime and criminals who are constantly working to victimize the vulnerable among us and compromise both our peace of mind and pocketbooks.
A big part of the reason behind the recent changes to our justice system is the extraordinary challenges we’ve all faced in the past few years that have forced us to adapt our way of life and confront attacks to our personal freedom, health, and safety. Technology has accelerated these changes, as we now order products and communicate round the clock not just from our computers but from our smartphones. In response, criminals have created new schemes to conduct their virtual scams. The good news is that we’ve also stepped up our game and have devised ways to stay two steps ahead of them.
Since 2016, for example, when we installed our first license plate reader and overview cameras in Oakmont, the program has grown to a network of more than 300 plate readers and 3,000 cameras. Every day, police departments and state and federal law enforcement agencies conduct about 1,000 inquiries regarding plate numbers of suspects. For instance, when a local woman, 90, was beaten and robbed in her home, police were able to use the camera system to identify the plate number and shared that information with more than 100 other police departments. This resulted in a department 15 miles away arresting the accused and bringing them to justice.
Another system that we’ve put in place, our Operation Life Saver tracking devices, has helped to locate more than 300 seniors who would literally have been lost to their families without it.
The Precious Metals Program, a database that lists shops that buy gold and precious metals, registers photographs and descriptions of every piece of jewelry they’ve purchased from individuals, along with their identification. Thousands of stolen items worth tens of thousands of dollars have been reclaimed, the thieves prosecuted, and the items returned to their rightful owners.
With so many children at risk and grandparents often taking the place of parents, child custody has become a major issue. Local private law firms will be working with our office to provide free legal assistance to grandparents who want to have custody of their grandkids in order to keep them safe and living under their roof, rather than on the street or with parents who are incapable of parenting.
We’ll be talking with you at senior centers around the county this month about these and other progressive steps we’ve taken to keep our seniors safe, including streamlining our justice system to divert first-time offenders and people with mental illness and addiction issues into treatment. All of these innovations allow us and those involved in the investigation and prosecution of crime in Allegheny County to do a better job of serving our residents.
With all of the technology at hand, were still committed to the old-fashioned way of talking with you face to face. We look forward to seeing you at your local senior center in September . . . and remember: senior justice is your right and our mission. It always has been, and always will be.