Ukraine launches police patrol on Kyiv streets

The first battalion of 500 officers of a newly created police patrol in Kyiv was activated on July 4, the Interior Ministry announced. 400 officers conducted vehicle patrols while 100 were engaged in pedestrian patrolling. A police patrol in Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city, will be launched by the end of August, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Aug. 4.

The patrol corps of nearly 2,000 officers will earn between $400 and $500 a month, the Interior Ministry announced. “The new police have a decent salary, social security and contemporary equipment,” said on July 5 Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. “The competition involved 25 candidates for a single job. And I hope that they won’t risk taking a bribe because that will put and end to their future prospects.”

Zenon Zawada: The police patrols are intended to improve the quality of life in Ukraine’s cities, as well as improve the government’s ability to deal with crime and terrorist threats.

We believe the patrols will also boost public support for the city and central government, which had lacked any real tangible initiatives to improve life for the public, up until this point. Indeed they could be a big factor in the re-election of Vitali Klitschko as Kyiv mayor.

At the same time, such initiatives are not enough to compensate for what’s truly needed from the government domestically, which is an overhauled judiciary and improved conditions for doing business.