(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the following:
(1) Reduce the incidence of financial abuse perpetrated against mentally impaired elder adults.
(2) Minimize monetary losses to mentally impaired elder adults as a result of financial abuse.
(3) Facilitate timely intervention by law enforcement, in collaboration with the public guardian, to effectively protect mentally impaired elder adult victims of financial abuse, and to recover their assets.
(b) Any peace officer or public guardian of a county that has both of the following, as determined by the public guardian of that county, may take the actions authorized by this chapter:
(1) The existence of sufficient law enforcement personnel with expertise in the assessment of competence.
(2) The existence of a law enforcement unit devoted to investigating elder financial abuse and the enforcement of laws applicable to elder abuse.
(c) This chapter shall be coordinated with existing mandated programs affecting financial abuse of mentally impaired elders that are administered by the adult protective services agency of the county.
(Added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 813, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018