Summary
This study evaluates the effectiveness of international civilian police [CIVPOL] training in helping to realize an effective domestic policing agency for Haiti. Such training aimed to develop basic skills and leadership capacities within the Haitian National Police [HNP]. Despite well-intentioned efforts to foster professional conduct and introduce modern policing principles, the outcomes of mentorship and training by CIVPOL throughout the 1990s had been largely negligible in developing a police force legitimate in the eyes of Haitians. This study reveals that the efforts to develop the HNP in the 1990s were adversely affected by a number of factors, both within the HNP and also in the strategy of the international stakeholders, which served to mitigate the larger effort to build the HNP's capacities in a sustainable fashion. This study acknowledges the importance of engaging police reform within a broader strategy of concurrent development of ancillary security sector actors.