Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: National Security
the police, and regularly surveys the operation of police stations.
Four years after it was first deployed, the PNH had achieved
measurable success in a country that had no civilian police tradition.
It has for the most part been politically impartial,
refraining from involvement in the political dispute that paralyzed
the government in 1998 and 1999. Nevertheless, individual
police commanders have been accused in incidents of
harassment and intimidation of critics of the government.
This positive assessment of the PNH is clouded by a significant
number of abuses, including the unnecessary use of force
that has often resulted in deaths, mistreatment of detainees,
failure to observe legal procedures in making arrests, and arrogance
in dealing with the public. At supervisory levels, officers
of both civilian and military backgrounds demonstrate numerous
weaknesses.
The police are ill-equipped to deal with the country's rapidly
growing role as a transshipment point for narcotics between
Colombia and the United States. Although a number of police
have been dismissed for drug corruption, the integrity of the
force is seriously endangered by the influence of the traffickers.
In spite of programs of international assistance, the justice
system in Haiti remains barely functional and is afflicted with
rampant corruption. Many judges are poorly educated,
untrained, unqualified, and open to bribery. In addition, the
legal process is extremely slow; only a small proportion of
crimes reaches the trial stage. In 1998 some 80 percent of
prison inmates were being subjected to illegal or prolonged
detention. Because of the public's lack of confidence in the
judicial process, vigilante activity against suspected criminals is
commonplace.
Aristide's daring move to do away with the armed forces has
proved to be a major achievement. The civilian national police,
in spite of its many shortcomings, is improving, and, although
serious problems remain, they are being addressed by the
authorities and are not on the massive or systemic scale that
existed under the de facto military regime of 1991-94. Ex-soldiers
and other disaffected elements, as well as mounting criminal
and narcotics activity, present continuing dangers to the
regime. If the new police force can weather its current challenges
and remain apolitical, future civilian governments
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