Can We—Do We Even Want to—Climb Out of the Bottomless Pit of Instability and Violence?

Haiti has six thousand police officers, of whom only 400 are fighting gangs. It is Henry P. Wooster, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Haiti, who says so.

If the Haitian National Police (PNH) is perceived as having a larger force, it is because civilian employees of the police are often added to the count of police officers. In any case, six thousand or even twelve thousand officers would be insufficient to restore security, ensure law and order, and properly protect lives and property.

Law enforcement forces in the