For a department with less than 500 staff for the entire country, this leaves them very over stretched. A normal police EOD department will normally conduct tasks around bomb threats, suspect packages, assist in high risk arrests, support at events etc. The Ukrainian police now have the job of also conducting large battle area clearances, landmine and UXO clearances, IEDs, weapon and explosives smuggling, to name just a few.
This is why we try to support them as much as possible, with clearance, training and medical assistance. I think it is important to remember that it is every government agency and not just the police department that is over-stretched right now. While we support a number of different agencies in Ukraine as well as training for military units, The National Police EOD department is our main focus with paramedic and ambulance support.
It is the police that bridge the gap between the Military and humanitarian Demining sector. With humanitarian mine action groups only able to work at a certain distance to the front line, it is the police, military and some other government agencies that cover the last stretch towards the frontline. We have some good new coming soon once we finalise a few bits, the end of a long road of setting up, yet the start of an even much bigger road!
For more information and for ways to support, please visit us at: http://prevailtogether.org
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