A recent report published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the human rights section of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti claim that Haitian national police forces have used illegal and excessive force against prisoners, which may have led to the deaths of at least nine people in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The reports, according to an Associated Press report, were based on investigations involving 16 members of the police force who may have committed abuses in six separate incidents.

Port-au-Prince Police Chief Mario Andresol has extended his welcome to the UN and other groups in helping the police force become more professional. He added however that his senior officers take action to stop abuses, and pointed out that the few cases of abuse should not cast a general refection on the entire police force.

Although reports indicated that there were cases where police officers accused of abuse have been suspended or detained while investigations were pending, none have been convicted of the alleged charges, and in several cases, suspended officers resumed duty before the investigations were concluded.

Investigations into alleged police abuse resulted from complaints of atrocities, including executions, committed by 16 Haitian police officers from October 2010 to May 2011, and involving the death of eight people.

The national police force consists of approximately 8,000 officers, a small force in relation to Haiti's population of 10 million. The force has been subject to training by the UN mission and the U.S. and Canadian governments. The UN peacekeeping mission provides the bulk of the security force in the nation. Its popularity however is declining, due to accusations that some members of the force were the source of Haiti's recent cholera epidemic. Other UN peacekeeping members have also been accused of atrocities against Haitian women.

Meanwhile, Haitian President Michel Martelly is in consultation with his presidential advisors about his goal to restore the Haitian army, which was disabled in 1995 after decades of its severe abuse of power against Haitians.