AUGUSTA – In a society that often discriminates against rather than respects and reveres its elderly, it is more important than ever that the state begin a crusade to protect some of its most vulnerable residents, Maine’s attorney general said Monday.

At what may have been the largest conference ever in the state dedicated to fighting the financial and physical abuse of the elderly, nearly 500 police officers, investigators, doctors, lawyers and social workers gathered at the Augusta Civic Center to try to find better ways to deal with the growing problem.

“This problem is huge and it’s pervasive,” Attorney General Steven Rowe told the standing-room-only crowd during his opening remarks.

Rowe, who lives with his wife and 87-year-old in-laws, has dedicated himself to curbing the abuse of the elderly, which most often occurs at the hands of loved ones, said Ricker Hamilton of the Bureau of Elder and Adult Services.

Rowe estimated that 12,000 Maine seniors will suffer abuse this year, though only 20 percent will report it. He noted on Monday that 47 percent of the abusers are the adult children of the victim, 19 percent are spouses, and 17 percent are grandchildren.

“It’s time we call this what it is,” Rowe said. “It’s domestic violence.”

Since July 2001, the Maine Attorney General’s Office has investigated and confirmed $2.2 million in financial exploitation of elderly residents, said Mike Webber, an investigator with the Attorney General’s Office.

“The effects of financial exploitation are numbing,” he said during a conference break.

Though senior citizens make up only 14 percent of the state’s population, they account for 35 percent of the state’s fraud victims, Webber said.

Two men who serve daily on the front lines of elderly abuse are Hamilton and his Bureau of Elder and Adult Services co-worker, Rick Moores. During an impassioned presentation, the two pleaded with attendees to pay attention to their elderly clients, customers or patients and to ask questions.

“Bankers can ask a question as simple as: ‘Do you control your own finances?'” Moores said. “Doctors need to ask questions, and they need to ask those questions in private, not in the presence of the person who brought them to the emergency room or to the office. Too often it may be that person who caused the injury.”

Today many police departments have officers who are trained specifically in elder abuse. Just last month, specialized training in that area was provided at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

“The reason so much goes unreported is because most often that would mean that the victim is turning in his or her daughter, spouse or grandchild,” Webber said. “Too often that person is the only one willing to care for them, and the only alternative to the abuser is a nursing home. They know this, and it makes for very difficult investigations and prosecutions.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t continue this crusade,” he said.