A good participation rate was noted among the elderly for attending sessions regarding crime prevention in day centres around Malta, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela, and Parliamentary Secretary for Active Ageing Justyne Caruana said today.

Over the past months, the police, and the Parliamentary Secretariat organised meetings in more than 19 different localities, and saw around 500 elderly persons attend.

Minister Carmelo Abela, together with Parliamentary Secretary Caruana, attended the final session in the Zejtun day centre, and spoke of the benefits of such educational sessions.

Minister Abela noted the number of elderly persons who fall victim to theft and other criminal offences. "Up until August 2015, 1,700 criminal offences were reported on persons aged over 60. These offences included robbery and pickpocketing," he said, amounting to 375 and 980 of such cases respectively.

Minister Abela encouraged more proactive initiatives in the educational sector by the police, together with other sectors within the community. He noted that police from the cybercrime unit are also going to such centres to educate the elderly on how to better use the internet, and about the forms of criminality that exist through this form of digital communication.

Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana said that her secretariat launched a campaign against elderly abuse, and this is why last June, her Parliamentary Secretariat invited the police to organise such educational sessions for the elderly.

Dr Caruana said that a year ago, a law passed resulting in harsher penalties for abuse against elderly persons.

She explained that these sessions will soon begin in Gozo, in the Active Aging centre in Xewkija.

For his part, Police Commissioner Michael Cassar said that elderly persons deserve to live peacefully. "You deserve to live comfortably within the community, and we, the police, will help. You will see more police on the roads. It is true that crime will remain, however we will make it harder for them, and thus making it easier for you to live your lives peacefully.