Combating crime against elderly is more than just PSNI job

12.00.00am GMT Mon 16th Feb 2004

ALLIANCE Councillor and Castlereagh District Policing Partnership member Geraldine Rice has hit out at nationalist calls for the PSNI to do more to combat crime against the elderly while at the same time calling for cuts in Police Reserve numbers.

Cllr Rice stated: "I condemn all attacks on the elderly and see a real need for more action to be taken. But the PSNI cannot deal with this problem on their own, even though they have gone some way towards prioritising it. The Housing Executive, community, schools, churches and other agencies also have roles to play too.

"It is all very well for certain politicians to say the police need to do more, but they rarely suggest that other groups need to do more too. For certain politicians to publicly call for the under-resourced PSNI to take action and in the next breath call for the police reserve to be scrapped is sheer hypocrisy."