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Prosecutors and police press for statutory fixes, data transparency and public outreach to curb elder exploitation
Summary
Prosecutors told the commission that current criminal thresholds and penalty structures hinder prosecutions; police and prosecutors urged better data sharing, more disaggregated statistics, and broader outreach campaigns. The commission demanded written statistics and minutes within 10 business days.
During the July 7 hearing convened by the House Commission on Public Safety, fiscal staff and police investigators urged legislative review of criminal penalties and thresholds that they say impede prosecutions of financial exploitation and other crimes against older adults.
Fiscal Brenda Rosado (Unidad de Control de Fraude al Medicare) told the commission that the monetary threshold for the offence labelled as "explotación financiera" requires a prosecutor to identify amounts that often are not reached in elder‑victim cases; she and other prosecutors recommended lowering the threshold (Rosado suggested a draft reading with $500 as the lower‑level benchmark) and revisiting related penal‑code articles so penalties align with the harms described.
Prosecutors gave concrete procedural recommendations: add elder‑abuse‑related offenses to the Law 300 list used for background‑check exclusions for people working with vulnerable populations, and require that pre‑agreement plea decisions in high‑interest elder‑abuse cases be reviewed and documented at higher supervisory levels.
Police officials described how referrals are logged and warned that national incident reporting systems (NIBRS) sometimes group dissimilar incidents in residual categories, which complicates age‑specific trend analysis. Police reported referral counts (for example, 852 referrals to June 26, 2026) and said a coordinator role for adult‑older incidents has been created within a new unit to improve follow‑up.
Legislators pressed agencies about staffing and budgets for the new unit and asked whether training or personnel would be newly funded; agencies said budget details were not yet final and agreed to deliver staffing and budget breakdowns to the commission within the 10‑day timeframe. Law 300 background‑check access and certification availability were also discussed; officials said certification centers are available in San Juan, Fajardo and Ponce but legislators asked for a complete listing and options to reduce travel and fee barriers for caregivers.
On outreach, the procuradora’s office said it conducts community talks and social‑media campaigns and said it can coordinate additional public education; legislators asked agencies to explore a simple emergency contact or hotline tailored to older adults, while noting budget and technical constraints.
The hearing recorded concrete next steps: agencies will submit disaggregated statistics, case counts, meeting minutes and any draft legislative language within 10 business days for the commission to review.
