While most supervisory posts have been filled, management systems that would hold them accountable for the performance of their police units remain very weak. Commanders, chosen on the basis of academic records and exams, have often turned out to have poor leadership and administrative skills in the field. Communication within the force remains poor, particularly in rural areas. Regular reports and information flows on institutional issues are extremely limited. While the police are far better equipped than they were 18 months ago, the administrative ability of the HNP to track, maintain, and re-supply equipment is terrible.
Maintenance remains appalling, with equipment, including guns, lying around in unsecured piles.
Police arrogance toward the population continues, and the community policing programs which might address that problem have not been a priority of the HNP leadership. The HNP disbanded a community policing initiative in Cap Ha tien. The judicial system has made no progress at all in prosecuting cases of police abuse. In fact, judicial impunity for police abuse was aggravated in June 1997, when a judge released six HNP agents accused of participating in summary executions. Only seven are awaiting trial for human rights violations, far fewer than ten months ago.