A retired Grove City Division of Police detective has a different role these days ‒ helping to connect elderly residents and their families with resources.
Teri Ruslander took on the role as elder-services coordinator in May 2020.
“In my earlier career, I spent a lot of time helping to set up safety protocols for our older population and specialized in investigating scams and other crimes that targeted seniors,” Ruslander said.
As Ruslander prepared to retire from her active duty, former police Chief Richard Butsko proposed the new role that would allow her to continue to focus on assisting older residents.
“To my knowledge, we were the first police department in Ohio ‒ central Ohio certainly ‒ to create a position focused solely on the senior population,” she said. “It’s not unusual for fire departments to have fire- and medical-assistance programs set up for seniors, but there’s a big need for this in the area of crime prevention.”
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Ruslander works part time several days a week in this role.
“One of my main tasks is to serve as an advocate for seniors who are targets of scams and crimes,” she said. “It’s a very vulnerable population. Seniors tend to be a little more trusting of people, and that can make them a little more prone to becoming victims.”
Common scams include people calling residents and claiming to be from the IRS, another government agency or a private business…
