oversight organization, continued corruption, and increasing signs of 

politicization related to recent Haitian elections.

Organizational Weaknesses

Starting in late 1994, the United States helped Haiti organize its police force 

so as to have the major components of a modern civilian police 

organization, such as an investigative unit, a crowd control unit, and a 

special weapons and tactics unit. However, the current organization of the 

Haitian police is weak, according to U.S. and other donor officials. For 

example, several key police units are not fully operational or not 

operational at all, such as the Maritime, Air, Border, Migration, and Forest 

Police Directorate and the Search and Intervention Brigade Directorate. A 

few individuals manage the existing police organization in a highly 

centralized manner, delegating little authority from headquarters to the 

field and within the police institutions in the field. The police organization 

is very reliant on its leadership for direction, and its lower levels show little 

initiative, tending to be reactive rather than actively performing community 

patrols. The police force has not yet developed a strong esprit de corps and 

discipline. During our visits to police units in Port au Prince, Saint Marc, 

and Jacmel, we saw that lower ranking police officers did not show much 

respect for high ranking officers and that many of them were milling 

around police facilities, reading newspapers, or watching soccer games on 

television. 

Shortages of Personnel, Training, 

Initially, the United States sought to help Haiti recruit and train 6,500 police 

and Equipment

officers, and by 1998 the police force reached a peak of about 6,500 

officers. However, shortages of personnel plague the current police force. 

According to the Haitian police, the force has 5,892 police officers, but 

according to U.S. and other donor officials, the force is actually much 

smaller ranging between 3,500 and 4,500 police officers. Compared with a 

country like El Salvador, with 19,000 police officers serving about 6 million 

people, Haiti with its approximately 8 million population has a 

relatively small police force. In addition, the Haitian police has a shortage 

of qualified commanders and supervisors. U.S. officials told us that the 

current number of approximately 175 commanders is insufficient for the 

size of the force. Because of the shortage of supervisors, police stations 

and substations outside the capital of Port au Prince are often supervised 

by lower ranking police officers. 

According to U.S. officials, the police force has experienced attrition 

because of the police's failure to provide professional opportunities, to 

implement a work schedule that is better than the current work schedule of 

12 hours a day 6 days a week, and to provide work opportunities in 

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GAO 01 24  Foreign Assistance