The military ombudsman accused TCC of aggressive actions against Ukrainians and demanded their removal from the streets

Notifications and detentions of conscripts should be handled by the police, and Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TCC and SSC) staff should be removed from the streets.

This was stated by Olha Reshetilova, the Ukrainian president’s commissioner for the protection of servicemembers’ rights and their families.

“First of all — and this has been my demand since I took office — we need to remove TCC and SSC servicemen from the streets. They should not be interacting with conscripts, because they are not trained for this. At one time, when we transformed the police from the old militia, we trained the National Police on how to communicate with people. The same would need to be done for TCC and SSC personnel if we had the time. But we don’t have that time. There’s no time to screen them or assess their psychological state, especially since many of them return from the front lines with injuries, and it’s clear they can’t always control themselves when they feel aggression directed at them. That’s why it’s so important to take TCC and SSC staff off the streets,” Reshetilova said.

She added that there is currently no defined procedure in Ukraine for documenting the detention and delivery of a person to a TCC.

“Phones are taken away, and people cannot inform their relatives where they are. This is a problem. We have spoken about the need to guarantee the right to a phone call. The police should prepare protocols when detaining or delivering someone to the TCC, and notify free legal aid services and the person’s relatives. Delivery is, to a certain extent, also a restriction of freedom — the person is not going there voluntarily,” Reshetilova argued.

She urged military commissars to be “more humane” and proposed hiring civilians — lawyers and volunteers — to work in TCC offices.

Yesterday, Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that TCC staff have no right to use force.