HAITIAN POLICE ACADEMY GRADUATION SPEECHES

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 001852 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR INL FOR KEVIN BROWN AND ANGELIC YOUNG S/CRS INR/IAA STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV SNAR SOCI KJUS HA SUBJECT: HAITIAN POLICE ACADEMY GRADUATION SPEECHES HIGHLIGHT NEED FOR JUDICIAL REFORM ¶1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified -- please protect accordingly. ¶2. (U) On November 6, the 19th class of recruits of the Haitian National Police (HNP) Academy graduated. The class consisted of 627 cadets, including 86 women. This is the largest number of women to ever enter the HNP, the result of a recent push by the HNP to actively recruit women. The class has been almost entirely assigned to the Motorized Intervention Brigade (French acronym BIM),for deployment throughout the hotspot areas of Port au Prince. The USG supported the class with equipment, clothing, training instructors, vehicles and food supplements. This class brings the official total number of HNP officers to 8,949, against an estimated need for 14,000 officers nationwide. ¶3. (U) The three-hour ceremony was heavily attended, with the Academy Director, the Director General (DG) of the HNP, the Minister of Justice, the Prime Minister, and the US Charge all speaking. The US Charge, Minister of Justice and Prime Minister all referred to the need for the judicial sector to play its part in coordination with the HNP to create a well-functioning justice sector. The Charge likened the two sectors to pillars supporting a building, that each could not support the structure alone or remain upright without the other. He symbolically presented the DG of the HNP with a set of keys, representing the 30 pickup trucks, 40 ATVs, 200 motorcycles and one tow truck donated by the USG through the NAS program for use by the BIM. The Minister emphasized the need to reopen the National Magistrate School, and to create a functioning, efficient, and effective judiciary. The Prime Minister emphasized that the recent improvements in the HNP needed to go hand-in-hand with similar improvement in the prison system and reform of the judicial system. He thanked the HNP for their service, remembered the fallen from their ranks (including a police commissioner gunned down earlier that week) and also thanked the people for their support of the police. He announced that the salaries of the HNP were under review, with an eye toward increases ranging from 20-35 percent. (Note: the average HNP officer makes the equivalent of less than 400 USD per month). Following the speeches, some HNP cadets presented a show of motorcycle skills on the new bikes and all passed in review for the dignitaries. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: It is noteworthy that the highest ranking GOH officals to speak emphasized the need for progress on judicial reform. This tracks with the frustration Post has heard expressed by HNP, GOH and international contacts on the lack of significant progress on reforming the judicial system. The judicial system is the missing piece in the justice system. While progress is being made on police reform, the courts are exacerbating massive prison overcrowding due to the glacial pace at which cases are heard (if at all). The judicial system is also widely viewed as deeply corrupt, with arbitrary prisoner releases undercutting the efforts of the police to curb violent crime in the city and to combat gangs in areas such as Cite Soleil. SANDERSON