The role of law enforcement in protecting elder rights in Thailand: findings from a mixed methods study

Purpose The change in Thailand to a super-aged society means that elder protection has become a national priority. Although elder abuse is reported to the police and law enforcement is usually the first responder, they are not trained in protecting older people, particularly in cases of emotional abuse and economic exploitation. This study aims to present the prevalence of elder abuse in urban Thailand and examine the role, perception and limitations of law enforcement in elder protection. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a sequential, explanatory, mixed-methods design to collect survey data, specifically with 500 older adults, stratified randomly. Face-to-face surveys explored elder abuse, legal knowledge and awareness, and perceptions of police involvement in elder protection. Qualitative data were obtained through 20 key informant interviews (police, social workers, medical personnel and legal professionals). Quantitative data analysis included t-tests, ANOVA and regression; qualitative knowledge was thematically coded. Findings The form of elder abuse most commonly observed by older adults was emotional (44.2%) and economic (39.8%); rates were higher for emotional and economic abuse among female older adults and those with lower education. The best predictor of how older adults viewed police effectiveness was the level of education, legal knowledge, and previous engagement with police. The qualitative findings revealed challenges related to legal ambiguity, poor inter-agency coordination, and officer burnout. Cultural restrictions on families with elder abuse and the privatization of family violence were also issues to address. Research limitations/implications The study focused solely on urban contexts located in Bangkok; therefore, it may not consider rural or minority ethnospecific experiences. While this limits representational validity, sampling of key informants in this study created a selection bias across institutional perspectives. Although limitations impacted the representational validity of the general findings, the mixed-methods approach permitted strong data triangulation to imply, point to recommendations and generate future work with action. Future studies should concern rural–urban disparity, longitudinal movements in elder abuse and comparisons as to how law enforcement protections vulnerable elderly individuals in the local or international contexts. Practical implications The importance of implementing integrated Elder Protection Units within the Royal Thai Police, standardized inter-agency referral protocols in elder protection cases and training in elder rights and trauma-informed policing can effectuate real change in elder protection. The call for policy reform based on systemic gaps in public legal education, community awareness of empowering older persons through volunteers, is an actionable strategy with immediate implications to boost elder protection in Thailand and improve the consideration of older individuals’ dignity and rights through their engagement with social justice. Social implications Elder abuse identified within social structures by culture and silence is difficult to amend in Thailand. This research indicated that systemic deficits in policing, social protection and factors beyond themselves impacted individual factors in reporting elder abuse or neglect, endorsed normalization through silent family structures and spell blindness through the lack of responses by police as a symptom of systemic failures. Framing elder abuse as human rights concerns instead of individual ones promotes reformulation of police responder roles and behavior, catalyses engagement of community in the matter and promotes protection of elder persons' rights and dignity toward aging respectfully together. Originality/value This research is one of the few studies in Thailand to use amixed-methods design to investigate elder abuse and the role of law enforcement. The topic of this study focuses on a seldom discussed venue of the police as operational and perception lenses in how to contribute to restoring elder protection and protection in an aging society. The theoretical framework draws from social ecology, routine activity theories, victimology and costs that create nodes between criminology points of view and social welfare policy. The evidence draws on local and global lessons learned in monitoring and creating actionable recommendations with a reorganization of the role of police in elder protection matters contributing globally to the conversation of aging rights, and policing in the Asian region.