ENDANGERMENT OF THE ELDERLY BY CRIME AND SOCIAL RESPONSE BASED ON COMMUNITY POLICING CONCEPT

Abstract

According to the average age of the population, Serbia is one of the oldest countries in the world, which results in increasing problems characteristic for the elderly population.One of them is the endangerment of the elderly by crime. In practice, not enough attention is paid to this issue, nor it is recognized as special and urgent, although due to the current number, and especially growing elderly population, their security problems will be greater and more present in society. Considering that elderly people a particularly vulnerable and discriminated category of the population, it is necessary to devise an adequate safety policy and establish an appropriate system of their protection. Community policing is recognized as a model of policing that can meet these requirements and adapt to the security needs of the elderly. This is because this concept is based on partnership with citizens and problem-oriented work. The police shouldbe open to community representatives pointing out their needs and highlighting security priorities, and the police can identify problems with them and initiate mechanisms for joint action. Community policing is proactive policing in which formal and informal social control are mutually reinforcing one another.The paper presents the most significant findings on endangerment by crime of the elderly aged 60 and over in the city of Belgrade from 2015 to 2019., in terms of: types of criminal offences, time, place, perpetrators and means of execution, as well as injured parties by gender. Also, the paper will show the organizational, functional and other advantages of community policing concept in relation to the traditional way of policing and try to answer whether its implementation can improve the safety of the elderly or adjust its operation to the security needs of this population