Haitian National Police

The Haitian National Police (French: Police Nationale d’Haïti) or PNH, is the law enforcement and defense force of Haiti. It was created in 1995 to bring public security under civilian control as mandated in Haiti's constitution. More than 8,500 police officers have completed training in modern law enforcement. U.S. instructors along with instructors from Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and France have contributed to the training.

Specialized training in such areas as crowd control, operation of firearms, and VIP protection has been provided by ICITAP ( a unit of the Criminal Division, US Department of Justice), whose experts have also worked closely with the Haitian Government in meeting the material needs of the new force; ICITAP completed its mission and withdrew in September 2000.

The police force has divided itself into different divisions to tackle the many problems facing Haiti. Many of these divisions are specialised to address particular chronic crimes that affect the nation including kidnapping, drugs, and gangs. The force also has a Coast Guard, and paramilitary units. The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti has implemented a series of plans to increase the size of the police force to 14,000.

The National Police of Haiti provides with the support of MINUSTAH, the public safety, the Judicial Police and law enforcement throughout the territory of the Republic of Haiti.

As of early 2012, the police force is composed of 10,700 police officers, and also employs 2,500 support staff. The UN hopes to increase those numbers to 12,000 in 2012. According to a report by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, between 2012 and 2013, Haiti saw a 21 percent drop in homicides—reversing a five year trend. There was a plummet of kidnappings by 53 percent. During this time frame, the force increased to 11,228.

Under Duvalier, the Haitian police was part of the Haitian Army and had 14,000 members organized into the Port-au-Prince Police and the Rural Security Companies. Since 1987, successive governments attempted to reform it as stated by the constitution it was created to maintain peace, enforce law and order in accordance with the rule of law, to protect its citizens and to arrest those that violate the law. However the police, being plagued by militarism, factionalism, and corruption, is mainly viewed by citizens as being repressive.

The 1987 Constitution proposed the establishment of a separate police corps and a new police academy under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. Political developments in Haiti since 1987, however, have precluded implementation of these changes. Nevertheless, the mission of the police corps was almost indistinguishable from the mission spelled out for the FAd'H. The characterization of the police as a corps armée (armed corps) reinforced this similarity in missions.

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