Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
investigation, including deaths that occurred under the military
regime after 1991, and high-profile killings following Aristide's
return to office. However, the unit is ill-equipped and
inexperienced and had made only limited progress on these
cases by the close of 1999.
Some mayors have formed quasi-official forces to supplement
the work of the PNH in their communities. These forces
remain small and lack legal standing or the right to carry weapons.
The municipalities have openly resisted the national government's
demands that their arms be turned in to the PNH.
In some cases, they assume arrest authority without the sanction
of the law. The Port-au-Prince extra-legal force is believed
to number several dozen persons, and the adjoining suburb of
Delmas has about thirty. Other communities have smaller
corps.
Recruitment, Training, and Equipment
Initial recruitment for the PNH was carried out by traveling
teams that tested thousands of applicants. Only a small percentage
was able to pass the examination, in part because literacy
in French and the equivalent of a high-school diploma were
required. This relatively high education level created some
problems for the police in dealing with the mostly illiterate
population, especially in rural areas, and the education
requirement has since been reduced to a tenth-grade level.
Members of the IPSF were allowed to apply on the basis of recommendations
from international police monitors but were
still required to pass the entrance test.
The academy course has been expanded from four to nine
months, although, realistically, adequate training would
require twelve to eighteen months. The program includes
instruction in police procedures, tactical skills, police management
and administration, law, and a course in "human dignity."
Under pressure to train large numbers of recruits rapidly, the
initial classes were brought to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri,
for the portion of the program dealing with practical police
skills. Short-term specialized courses also have been introduced
to sharpen the skills of police and officers in the field.
The training program was developed by the United States
Department of Justice's International Criminal Investigative
Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) . Haitian lawyers focus
on the constitution and Haitian laws, while personnel of ICI-
TAP, together with Canadian and French police trainers, deal
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