AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine Attorney General Janet Mills is teaming up with Legal Services for the Elderly to start a task force to combat financial exploitation and other crimes against elderly residents.

The task force will address barriers to prosecuting these crimes and examine issues like whether law enforcement and prosecutors may need more training to work with elderly witnesses or victims. Other questions include whether elderly victims are reluctant to come forward if the perpetrator is a family member and what the state can do to bolster law enforcement’s ability to pursue and prosecute these crimes.

“For many years the Attorney General’s Office and the District Attorneys have prosecuted crimes against the elderly,” Mills said Friday. “But with the aging of our state’s population, these crimes have become more prevalent. We need to encourage older citizens to report crimes and to assure them that their personal and financial security is paramount, that their input is valuable and that the criminal justice system will treat them fairly.”

The task force will be chaired by Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin and include prosecutors, court personnel and members of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Its work will build on events on aging led by House Speaker Mark Eves of North Berwick this past fall. Stepping up prosecutions for seniors was a core issue that came out of those discussions, Eves said.