Martin Dean, using numerous eyewitness accounts and documents that have become available, shows in his book that the local Belarusian and Ukrainian police were a direct and key accomplice in Nazi crimes. Vastly outnumbering German police forces in the occupied territories, the local police played a major role in locating, arresting and escorting Jews to their place of execution; often Ukrainian and Belarusian police officers were directly involved in the ruthless executions themselves.