Law enforcement officers' understanding and response to elder abuse

The purpose of this study was to explore law enforcement officers' understanding and response to elder abuse, and their role in investigating elder abuse and neglect.;Participants in this study included all classifications within police departments that serve the City and the County of Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, and other local jurisdictions in Los Angeles.;Purposive sampling and snowball sampling were utilized for this study. An online survey was administered utilizing Survey Monkey. The sample included 56 participants.;The study found that the variable that had the most impact or predictability of elder abuse knowledge and application of knowledge was the increased number of elder abuse training hours. This factor had more impact than years of service in law enforcement and had more impact than level of education or any other tested factor.;The majority of law enforcement officers in this sample understood when reports of abuse should be made. There were some scenarios that there was great agreement by respondents in the classifying and handling and others that did not have the same level of consistency.;Additionally, the developed survey instrument that was designed specifically to represent and follow California's mandatory reporting law, and Hallie's Understanding and Response to Elder Abuse Scale had strong reliability and may be utilized for replication in other communities in California.