The team, which is staffed by volunteers, exists primarily to aid seniors and to allow a responding officer to get to the next call for service in a timely manner. Team members have assisted at car accident scenes, listened to the fears and frustrations of robbery victims, transported domestic violence victims to a safehouse, and referred seniors to appropriate agencies such as a legal aid society. Initial training for SVAT members lasts 40 hours over a 12-week period, and new team members are then paired with an experienced member for 2 weeks. Training provides information on, among other subjects, community resources, counseling and communication skills, how to use police radios, how the judicial process functions, and how to spot scams that target seniors. Volunteers must be willing to be on call for a week at a time, around the clock, on a rotating basis. A team such as this can be the beginning of a police volunteer program or be incorporated into an existing one.