An elderly lady attacked outside her home on Monday evening is urging other seniors to be on alert for criminals.

The senior, who did not want to be named, was shoved to the ground and had her handbag ripped away by an assailant on a motorcycle as she returned home from visiting friends at the hospital.

"I want to warn seniors that it's not just tourists (under attack), that they are in jeopardy,'' she said.

Last night a Police spokeswoman said Police were aware of a "recent spate'' of handbag snatches and will be making a full public statement at some point today.

"We are concerned and we share the public's concerns,'' she said. "We're starting a number of initiatives that we believe will lead to successfully resolving these crimes.'' In the meantime, the executive director of Age Concern, Claudette Fleming urged seniors to be extra vigilant and to travel in pairs. "Vulnerable people are going to be particularly attractive to criminals,'' she said.

The senior attacked on Monday was actually accompanied by a friend at the time. The two women returned to their Hamilton apartment at 6.50 p.m. and as they walked from the car to the door a motorcycle roared toward them.

"A motorcycle revved up and came between us,'' the senior said. "We thought that he was crazy or maybe he hadn't seen us.'' The woman was then pushed to the ground and the attacker tugged at one of her purse straps. She said that it wasn't until her friend had helped her up and the bike screeched away that she noticed he had stolen her handbag.

"I started screaming `he's got my handbag','' she said.

The two seniors called 911 and said the Police responded very quickly.

The woman said that the officers who attended the scene told her that in cases like this, it's not a matter of the Police watching the criminals but rather the criminals watching the Police.

When the Police are out of sight, they told her, the criminals hit.

"I particularly want to alert women on their own to how dangerous it is,'' she said. "I said to the Police officer, `I heard crime was going down' and he laughed and said `that's what they say but we know different'.'' Yesterday, crime prevention officer Sgt. Chris Wilcox said that he was not aware of any increase in crimes targeting seniors.

"We've seen a sizable increase in attacks that target women in the last half of last year,'' he said, but he added that in the last three years there had been no real increase.

"You do get a certain amount of copycat crime,'' he said and pointed out that women and seniors are seen to be more vulnerable.

Sgt. Wilcox said Police were at work updating a brochure offering safety tips for seniors, similar to one which the service recently issued for women.

The senior attacked on Monday said the entire experience was very frightening and disturbing for her.

She told The Royal Gazette that she went to the hospital as she had banged her elbow, had bruises on her right upper thigh and upper arm and her head had hit the ground as a result of the attack.

"Last night it looked like I had two elbows,'' she said.

And she said that her friend who was with her at the time was a much older woman. "She said to me, `If I had fallen, I wouldn't have gotten up','' the woman said last night.

She believes the attacker was lying in wait for a victim as people are not supposed to drive motorbikes in the parking lot of her building.

"That person was waiting for somebody or something -- just waiting,'' she said. "And it was still light out which is rather frightening.'' "What happened to me isn't important,'' said the senior. "What's important is that I pass on what happened to me so others know they should be on alert.'' "The whole situation has changed from when I came to the Island about 50 years ago,'' she added.

"Then we didn't have keys for our front doors and you would leave money on the table for workmen doing things around the home and just ask them to close the door. It's a changed world and one that's changed for the worse.'' The Police spokeswoman said while there does seem to be an increase in purse snatches, all age groups and races, locals and tourists, had been victims and that only women seem to have been disproportionately affected.