Grantee in the News: Brie Williams on police training programs on aging in NY Times
On July 21, 2017, The New York Times featured insights from 2010 Centers of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Psychiatry Program scholar Brie A. Williams, MD, on the need for police officer training programs to improve interactions between law enforcement and the growing aging population.
The article, Another Possible Indignity of Age: Arrest, highlights a rise of arrests rates in older adults. Dr. Williams theorizes this is because older adults may behave impulsively from medical issues like dementia, delirium, dehydration, infection, or the side effects of medications.
Dr. Williams advocates for a greater number of training programs for police officers to improve the way they react to situations involving older adults. She explains: “This is a specialized group in need of specialized responses.”
Read the full article here.
Brie A. Williams, MD is a Professor in School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
For insights on the healthcare needs of an aging population, we encourage you to view the series of columns by AFAR Medical Officer Richard W. Besdine, MD in The Huffington here.