Police Assistant, a mobile application designed to help police officers assist people belonging to key populations vulnerable to HIV, was launched on 17 February 2021. The digital solution was developed with UNDP support, in the framework of a project implemented by the NGO “Positive Initiative”, in partnership with the General Police Inspectorate of the Republic of Moldova, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The application will help law enforcement staff to:

• have handy the necessary instructions to act;
• be safe and protect their health during apprehensions or searches;
• redirect people of groups at risk to community structures that can provide them with the necessary assistance in a timely manner.

"We appreciate the usefulness of this mechanism for redirecting people of the group at high risk of infection to treatment, support and rehabilitation services. In their work, the representatives of law enforcement bodies meet people in need of qualified and usually multidisciplinary assistance,” stated Cornel Lebedinschi, State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"This application will enable any staff member, at any time, to have access to important information that will help them react correctly and professionally in difficult situations, to protect themselves as well as to assess their level of knowledge in the field of communicable diseases and working with the key populations and, most importantly, to easily and quickly redirect people to the necessary services," said Ruslan Poverga, General Director, “Positive Initiative”.

The “Police Assistant” application will contribute to reducing the response time in communicating with people belonging to key populations vulnerable to HIV.

"We hope that, thanks to this application, the communication between law enforcement staff and key populations vulnerable to HIV will become more efficient and will contribute to increasing the quality of services provided to the community by the police," said Alexandru Cocirta, Program Analyst at UNDP Moldova.

Through its interventions, UNDP supports the implementation of the community policing concept, so that police services come closer to people and communities and their needs.