- [Narrator] NPT Reports, Aging Matters.

(dramatic music) - I'm the district attorney general in the 31st judicial district.

In 2014, I was given an opportunity to be on the elder abuse legislative task force.

And during the course of that my eyes were completely opened up with some of the issues we have and some of the shortcomings.

In 2017 is when the real difference started to happen.

We passed several laws to protect our seniors.

- One piece of legislation that was so important was the creation of the VAPIT team, which is the vulnerable adult protective investigative team.

And what that team consists of is the district attorney's office, adult protective services, local law enforcement agencies, a representative from CREVAA, other agencies that assist with vulnerable and elder adults.

The goal of the VAPIT team is to coordinate investigations and to obtain information about these reports that come from APS that are generated from APS involving financial exploitation, abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation of vulnerable, or elder adults.

- We just look at every single case to make sure that we're doing everything we can to protect our seniors and vulnerable adults.

I know that a lot of people think that a district attorney's office is only about prosecuting, putting people in jail but that's never been my objective.

My objective is to help our seniors who need it the most.

That's why we need CREVAA.

When you've been victimized, CREVAA's gonna be there to step up and help fill those gaps.

If you don't have groceries in the cabinet because someone else took your check or took your medication, they can help you get those back.

They are the resources there that are going to make a difference.

And so that's why we all work as VAPIT.

Sometimes we reach out and find those resources for you to help, because that's what we're here for.

We want to help you.

We want to make a difference and hopefully restore you to some type of your life before you were victimized.

(bright music)