Newly trained Haitian police target gangs

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- U.N. police officers announced a newly trained Haitian national police will target troubled neighborhoods.

UNPOL announced 627 recruits have been inducted into the Haitian national police force. Officials say almost all of the new officers will be assigned to form a new motorized brigade in an effort to diminish the role of armed gangs in the capital.

The UNPOL officers trained the recruits on how to maintain order in troubled areas, work effectively as community police officers and use heavy weapons such as M4 rifles along with human-rights protection and upholding civil and penal rights. The unit will be assigned Port-au-Prince’s most difficult districts, including Cite Soleil and Martissant, the U.N. peacekeeping mission to Haiti reported.

The new motorized unit falls under the Department of Peacekeeping Operations Police Division, which falls under the recently established Haitian Office of the Rule of Law and Security Institutions.

Officials say 200 motorcycles and 40 vehicles from the United States have been delivered to the new unit with more assistance expected.

"The mission is trying to support the national police academy to train and build up the capacity of the police force," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a recent report. "Some 30 UNPOL instructors work at the academy and, after this intake, there are now nearly 9,000 police agents in the force.

"The proportion of women in the HNP is also increasing. Women currently comprise about 6 percent of the total force, but in this intake they represent nearly 14 percent."