To mark the Republic of Moldova's Police Day on December 18 the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau will highlight U.S. assistance to the Ministry of Interior, including significant donations of technical equipment and specialized training.
Additionally, the Embassy will formally donate nearly 100,000 of specialized explosive ordinance disposal equipment to the Moldovan Bomb Squad. This equipment includes a customized vehicle, a bomb suit with a protective helmet and a hotstic robotic manipulator, which will complement training provided by the United States Government in 2008. These contributions will give the Ministry of Interior's already highly capable Bomb Squad the technical equipment it needs to address explosive threats throughout Moldova.
This donation is part of the U.S. Government's continuing assistance and commitment to support Moldova's efforts to modernize its law enforcement capabilities, outlined in the "Letter of Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the Government of the United States of America for Assistance in Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement," signed on August 28, 2001. The donated equipment will considerably increase capacities of the Ministry of Interior in detection and defusing of explosive ordinances, giving the team equipment commensurate with its skills.
In addition to the equipment donated to the Bomb Squad, the Embassy has undertaken procurement of specialized investigative equipment, at an estimated cost of $25,000, to be donated by the end of the year to the Center for Combating Trafficking in Persons. This equipment is meant to improve operative investigative activities conducted by CCTIP officers, including undercover operations, interviews, apprehensions and investigations of trafficking in persons and illegal migration cases.
At the same time, the Law Enforcement Capacity Development Program of the U.S. Embassy continues to provide training to Moldovan policemen. By chance, today in Budapest 17 representatives from three Moldovan law enforcement agencies (Ministry of Interior, Customs Service, and the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption) are graduating from a 10 week training course at the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest. These officers will return to Moldova with specialized skills and abilities acquired from this training, as well as an understanding of American law enforcement.
In total under this Letter of Agreement, in 2009 the U.S. Government has offered assistance estimated at $225,000 to support the Government of the Republic of Moldova in its efforts to improve and modernize its law enforcement capabilities.
