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Tim Kaine - Governor of Commonwealth of Virginia
Tim Kaine
Governor
of Virginia

John Marshall - Secretary of Public Safety
John Marshall
Secretary
of Public Safety

Marilyn Harris - Deputy Secretary of Public Safety and Director of Gosap
Marilyn Harris
Deputy Secretary
of Public Safety,
GOSAP Director



Logo and Link for Prevention Comes First

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Protect And Respect

With the exception of children, no population group other than senior citizens is as proportionally vulnerable to crime and as often victimized by criminals. In addition to every other category of crime affecting all age groups, seniors in Virginia suffer inordinate degrees of theft, burglary and vandalism to their property. Less reported but equally prevalent is physical and sexual abuse of the elderly, occurring both at home and in residential institutions. During the two-year period from 2001 to 2002, Virginians aged 55 and over were the victims of 80 homicides, 79 kidnappings, 5,653 assaults, 1,317 robberies, 4,535 carjacks and auto thefts, and 7,848 burglaries.

The Protect & Respect senior safety and crime prevention program was officially launched in May of 2003. It was created to strengthen the Commonwealth’s focus on crime prevention, reduce elder abuse and victimization, help to eliminate financial fraud and scams targeting seniors, promote fire safety and teach effective emergency responses, and to provide needed resources to improve the overall quality of life for seniors. There are more than 1.4 million Virginians aged 55 or older.

Public Safety Institutes Officially Launched

In direct response to what seniors identified as their top safety and crime prevention concerns, Protect & Respect developed a modular series of training courses that address specific issues, such as:

  • Avoiding Frauds & Scams
  • Preventing Thefts and Burglaries
  • Fire Safety
  • Internet Safety
  • Identifying and Reporting Crime and Abuse
  • Fall Prevention
  • Emergency Preparedness
  • Securing Your Home

Covering more than 30 topics in all, these courses are bundled according to regional and local needs to form customized training programs for Public Safety Institutes that address the crime prevention needs and safety concerns in your community. Working with your local Virginia State Police Crime Prevention Specialist, you can help to bring a Protect & Respect Public Safety Institute to your area. These courses teach safety skills and provide personal safety materials. They are taught by Virginia ’s top public safety experts, featuring trainers from the Departments of Emergency Management, Fire Programs and the Virginia State Police, among others.


(photo by John K. MacLellan)

Former Governor Mark Warner is surrounded by a jubilant crowd of senior residents of the Imperial Plaza Retirement Community in Richmond during the recent opening of the first Protect & Respect Public Safety Institute. Joining him (foreground) were some fifth-grade students from the Holton School who, along with their volunteer senior mentors, are participants in the statewide Protect and Respect Intergenerational Mentoring program.

Why Does My Community Need To Be Concerned?

A Protect & Respect Public Safety Institute benefits everyone. Senior citizens don’t exist in a vacuum. Hosting a local Institute in your community can improve the safety environment for everyone. Working with local citizens and organizations, Protect & Respect provides safety education and resources for Virginia ’s senior citizens and encourages Virginians of all ages to understand the importance of safeguarding our elders and taking individual responsibility to ensure the ongoing protection of senior citizens...and themselves.

According to older Virginians and the people who work most closely with them, the top ten overall safety and crime prevention issues are:

What Can I Do To Keep Our Elders Safe?

No one knows better than you — local residents, community leaders and senior citizens themselves — which local safety and crime prevention issues are of most concern. Quite often, decisions about improving the overall safety environment for older Americans are based on assumptions, stereotypes or outdated statistics quoted from people outside the community.

In Virginia , the Protect & Respect program avoids this mistake by doing first things first. Even before the program was established, a statewide needs assessment was conducted to really find out the types of crimes that were most affecting Virginia’s senior citizens and, more importantly, what seniors themselves experience and feel about their own level of safety in their homes, in their cars or anywhere else in the community.

Importantly, these needs and concerns vary from community-to-community and from region-to-region throughout Virginia. Protect & Respect Public Safety Institutes depend on you, and other local residents like you, to contact us and arrange for a local training session to be held in your community. Community safety is everyone’s concern.

P&R Delivers!

Protect & Respect Public Safety Institutes are now being offered in communities throughout the Commonwealth, in response to requests from civic groups, senior services organizations, faith institutions and other organizations that want to contribute to making all of Virginia’s communities -- whether urban, suburban, or rural – safer places for seniors and all Virginians.

To arrange a Public Safety Institute in your community, contact:

Special Agent Greg Hopkins
Crime Prevention Coordinator
Virginia Department of State Police
7700 Midlothian Turnpike
Richmond , VA 23235
(804) 674-4632