By Michael Copley, Staff Writer
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Last week, Powhatan joined 226 other localities in the state to support TRIAD, a cooperative organization that works to reduce crime against the elderly, particularly scams and fraud.

The national crime prevention partnership between local law enforcement, community service providers and the senior citizen community began in Louisiana in 1988. The program spread to Virginia in 1995 under Attorney General Jim Gilmore. Virginia currently has the highest number of active local TRIAD groups in the country.

The Powhatan signing ceremony was held July 21 at the courthouse.

Jennifer Aulgur, the Director of TRIAD and Citizen Outreach for Attorney General Bill Mims, said TRIAD’s “primary function to seniors is to educate, to allow them the chance to get to know law enforcement better; and at the same time, law enforcement will get to learn from them.”

“But this is a partnership,” Aulgur said, addressing the senior citizens who attended the ceremony, “and we need your help.”

Chief Deputy Dan Giardini, the Sheriff’s Office representative to TRIAD, said he plans to contact churches and other community organizations to poll senior citizens to determine their most pressing questions and concerns. 

“This is a day long in the making,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Beasley said to the citizens gathered there. “This is your organization and it’s going to be up to you to help keep it moving forward.”

Organizers said the next step is to establish a SALT council- SALT stands for seniors and law enforcement working together- “a body aimed at furthering the Triad philosophy of community coming together,” said Aulgur. “It’s not just about fending off frauds and scams; it’s also about quality of life issues for senior citizens. What are you seeing in your community that you think police should know about?”

Beasley said Kaitlynn Seekins, a college student and summer intern in his office, deserved special recognition for her work organizing TRIAD in Powhatan.

“The measure of a community is how it treats its most vulnerable,” Delegate Lee Ware said last week. “As we grow, it will take an intentional effort to support the elderly.”

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