Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: National Security
vented the implementation of these changes. The army feared
that a separate police would compete for funds and influence
and would threaten its opportunities for profit. The armed
forces continued to act as the nation's ultimate law enforcement
agency in spite of their lack of competence in this area.
The only identifiable police force in Haiti operated in Port-au-
Prince, its members assigned to it by the armed forces. This
1,000-member force had few operational or technical capabilities,
even though it was responsible for criminal investigations,
as well as narcotics and immigration control. Members of the
FAd'H detailed for police duties received no specific training in
police methods. They did not have regular beats, investigate
crimes, or carry out other normal police functions. The police
could be hired to arrest persons on flimsy evidence. Warrantless
arrest was common, as was incommunicado detention.
There was no true rural police. Small garrisons, operating
under military department command, with some cooperation
from the lowest central government administrative heads, the
military section chiefs, were responsible for rural security. In
effect, the 562 section chiefs functioned not only as police
chiefs but also as primary government representatives in rural
areas. Thus, with little or no oversight from the capital and
without special training, the officers assigned to keep order
often acted as prosecutors, judges, and tax assessors in a brutal
system whose main purpose was to prevent any grassroots
opposition from developing.
In addition to its failure to establish a nationwide police
force as called for in the constitution, the military leadership
failed to subdue the VSN and other vigilante groups. Direct
links between the senior army command and remnants of the
VSN enabled many VSN agents to infiltrate FAd'H units and
the cadres of the Port-au-Prince police force. Many of the paramilitary
groups simply were engaged in a career of banditry
with no political motivation. The Avril government made some
effort to crack down on abuses in the internal security services,
but members of the FAd'H and its various affiliates continued
to use their monopoly of power to subjugate and mistreat the
Haitian citizenry. It has been estimated that some 3,000 Haitians
died in the 1991-94 period as a result of the FAd'H's
oppressive governance.
Haiti's External and Domestic Security Concerns
Defense of the nation against external threats was never a
473