Around 5,000 police officers are affected by this situation, according to data compiled since 2021 and revealed to AyiboPost by a police officer who worked for three years in the complaints and declarations department of the Delmas 33 police station
Half a dozen Haitian National Police officers involved in the fight against armed gangs, but forced to move due to the violence, denounce to AyiboPost the lack of financial and psychological support from their institution.
Around 5,000 police officers are affected by this situation, according to data compiled since 2021 and revealed to AyiboPost by a police officer who worked for three years in the complaints and declarations department of the Delmas 33 police station. She requested anonymity for security reasons.
For the same period, Garry Jean-Baptiste of the Haitian National Police Union (SPNH-17) states that the union has identified nearly 4,000 officers facing this difficult situation.
Contacted by AyiboPost, the deputy spokesperson for the Haitian National Police (PNH), Lionel Lazarre, said he had no data on police officers displaced by gang violence.
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Repeated attacks by armed bandits in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and some provincial towns have already caused more than a million internally displaced persons since the last quarter of the previous year.
According to Garry Jean-Baptiste of the Haitian National Police Union (SNPH-17), displaced police officers are forced to remain at their base due to a lack of funds to rent a new home.
This is the case, for example, at the police headquarters in Clercine, where officers are housed.
« I moved three times in one year. I was able to do it thanks to my wife’s financial support, » Jean Baptiste told AyiboPost.
In a publication on platform X, dated January 8, 2025, SPNH-17 officials denounce the lack of support from the government and the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) towards the PNH, particularly during the recent operations carried out in the stronghold of the gang led by Vitelhomme Innocent.
The bandits particularly target the police.
During the gang attacks in Mirebalais in March 2025, they set fire to the house of this officer of the Departmental Law Enforcement Unit (UDMO).
Panicked, the police officer from the 24th PNH promotion and his family took refuge in the UDMO base in Hinche.
According to the police officer, who requested anonymity, his house and those of three other police officers involved in the fight against gangs were set on fire by the bandits.
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Currently in Hinche and continuing to participate in operations, the police officer complains about the inappropriate conditions at the base, where eight people are squizzed in a small room.
« My family and I had a decent life, » the officer said. « But we were forced to move around without resources. »
The Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Force (MMAS) arrived in Haiti in June 2024 to assist the national police in combating armed gangs.
Read more: Kenyan officers criticize the mission’s operation
In an investigation published by AyiboPost in September 2024, three PNH agents expressed frustrations with the differential treatment received by Haitian police officers and foreign agents in this mission.
Nearly a year later, authorities are struggling to curb the gangs despite the presence of this force.
Forced displacement economically affects the functioning of police officers who are sometimes forced to live far from their families.
A UDMO agent deployed on the ground against gangs in Port-au-Prince, contacted by AyiboPost, complained of being forced to send his wife and son to live in the north of the country.
The family had to flee the Carrefour-feuilles neighborhood following gang attacks last year.
« I am doing my best on the ground to help resolve this insecurity problem because I want to be able to reunite my family, » the agent told AyiboPost.
Soaring rents in certain areas, particularly in Pétion-Ville and Delmas, are jeopardizing the efforts of several police officers who want to protect their families from gang attacks.
« Going from a rent of 50,000 gourdes in Savane Pistache to 3,000 US dollars in Pétion-Ville, with a monthly salary of around 45,000 gourdes, estimated at nearly 350 US dollars, is extremely difficult, » describes a police officer from the 26th class.
The police officers also receive a monthly bonus of 30,000 gourdes on their debit cards. This, however, remains insufficient to meet their needs, according to their testimony.
This Officer lived in Carrefour-Feuilles and was part of a group of police officers fighting attacks by the Grand Ravin gang led by Renel Destina, known as Ti Lapli, in 2022 before his house was set on fire.
The refusal of certain hospitals to accept insured persons from the Office of Work Accident, Sickness and Maternity Insurance (OFATMA) is exacerbating the precarious situation of police officers requiring specialist care.
« Some officers are traumatized after participating in operations or suffering bandit attacks, » Mathieuny Sidel, spokesperson for the National Union of Haitian Police Officers, told AyiboPost. He himself was forced to flee in February 2024 following armed attacks.
The union representative is calling for the strengthening of the National Police Medical Directorate to ensure better psychological support for officers.
Contacted by AyiboPost, the medical director of the PNH, Jean Sonny Virgile, stated that he was not authorized to communicate information.
In 2024, the United Nations estimates the strength of the Haitian National Police to 12,286 agents. This number is, however, estimated at 8,000 by presidential advisor Leslie Voltaire in January 2025
The so-called « war budget » adopted by the government in April 2025 provides for an allocation of 36 billion gourdes for the Haitian National Police and the Haitian Armed Forces.
Going from a rent of 50,000 gourdes in Savane Pistache to 3,000 US dollars in Pétion-Ville, with a monthly salary of around 45,000 gourdes, valued at nearly 350 US dollars, is extremely difficult.
In early June 2025, the chairman of the Presidential Transitional Council, Fritz Alphonse Jean, revealed that only 13.7% of the budget had been executed as of April 30 of that year.
Launched in September 2020 in Delmas 33 under the administration of Jovenel Moïse, a housing construction project for Haitian police officers, financed to the tune of $12.5 million by the ONA, still remains at an impasse.
While waiting for concrete solutions, frontline police officers have to face their housing problems alone.
On the evening of February 17, 2025, the family of two policewomen was forced to flee Sarthe in a hurry after armed bandits, who controlled the area, discovered their connection to law enforcement. The assailants invaded their home, ransacked it, and fired shots in all directions.
Having lived in the neighborhood since 1982, the family can no longer return, one of the police officers, from the 31st class, told AyiboPost.
Stalking police officers is a common strategy used by gangs when they take control of a territory.
In October 2024, gang members and Jeff Gwo Lwa set fire to the homes of police officers who had tried to organize to defend Sarthe.
In a video released in February 2025, Wilson Joseph, alias Lanmò San Jou, leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, ordered his men to systematically search the homes and phones of anyone in their stronghold, in order to identify and execute those with links to the police.
By : Rolph Louis-Jeune
Cover | Officers of the Haitian National Police officers (PNH). Photo : minujusth
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