ARTICLE - HAITIAN POLICE MAKING PROGRESS

HAITI NATIONAL POLICE MAKING PROGRESS, CHIEF SAYS
(Miami Herald) - By Jacqueline Charles

Haiti Police Chief says progress is being made in getting rid of bad cops.

The head of the Haitian National Police says the agency is working diligently to root out bad cops, including senior officers.

Police Chief Mario Andresol’s comments come on the heels of recent criticism by Michel Forst, the United Nation’s independent expert on human rights, who criticized authorities after visiting Haiti this month for not moving quickly to fire 200 police officers — senior officers among them — who failed background checks. The inaction, Forst said, hampered efforts to reform and strengthen the HNP, which is still about half the size some say Haiti needs.

Since his appointment in June 2008, Forst has met with three different Haitian prime ministers, asking to implement the recommendations of the vetting process. Those decisions involve activating the Superior Council of the National Police (CSPN), which must decide, after a fair trial, whether to dismiss officers who don’t comply with police standards.

Andresol says he has begun to cleanup the ranks of the police, but note that HNP guidelines prevent officers from being terminated without cause.

“Removal from [police] service needs to be done on administrative grounds,” Andresol said. “There has been no nepotism dealing with the senior officers who failed vetting. I have used the administrative options to remove unsuitable senior officers.”

Still, Andresol acknowledge that if terminations are slow, the problem has to do with Haiti’s procedures that guide the process. A 1997 decision that allows for termination on the basis of “excessive wealth” has yet to be tested and the council has yet to respond to requests for guidance.

Andresol said the number of bad cops who failed background checks is 137, according to a list provided by the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti. About 80 remain active, and they will have a chance to plead their case before a joint U.N. and police commission, he said.

Police personnel records, he said, show that between 2005 and 2009, some 993 officers have been administratively terminated.

“We are working,” he added