Overview:
Port-de-Paix Authorities Commissioner Jéir Pierre creates a particular safety brigade below his authority, mirroring techniques utilized by Miragoâne Commissioner Jean Ernest Muscadin.
PORT-DE-PAIX—As insecurity continues to unfold throughout Haiti’s provincial cities, Port-de-Paix Authorities Commissioner Jéir Pierre has taken on an more and more assertive function in public safety, forming a particular nighttime patrol brigade below his direct authority. An method that mirrors the hard-line mannequin popularized by Miragoâne public prosecutor Jean Ernest Muscadin.
Since late December, Pierre has overseen night patrols all through Port-de-Paix, the capital metropolis of the Northwest Division, following a sequence of armed robberies, assaults and reviews of sexual violence that rattled residents and disrupted nightlife.
The initiative locations the general public prosecutor—fairly than the Haitian Nationwide Police (PNH)—on the heart of seen street-level safety, drawing each reward and concern, as has been the case with Muscadin’s operations in Nippes, which The Haitian Occasions has beforehand reported on.
“There are at present two authorities commissioners within the nation who’re actually confronting banditry,” mentioned resident Maccène Tilus, 47. “Commissioner Pierre is performing right here the way in which Jean Ernest Muscadin has performed for years in Miragoâne [the capital of the Nippes Department].”
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A prosecutor-led safety mannequin with funding exterior the state
Pierre mentioned the brigade was created in response to repeated complaints from residents who felt deserted amid sporadic nighttime assaults. Reasonably than forming a private safety element, he mentioned he selected to increase the small safety unit hooked up to his workplace right into a broader patrol pressure.
“The brigade is the safety unit of the Authorities Commissioner,” Pierre mentioned. “However I expanded this pressure by choosing a gaggle of males to patrol with me each night by way of each neighborhood, alley and lifeless finish, to ease the workload of the Haitian Nationwide Police.”
Based on Pierre, the brigade operates in coordination with police items however stays below his authority. Its members are drawn from the native inhabitants, a element he says permits them to establish recognized criminals extra simply.
“My safety isn’t any extra necessary than the safety of the inhabitants,” Pierre mentioned. “This isn’t about defending me—it’s about defending town.”
In contrast to formal police items, the brigade doesn’t have an official authorities finances. Pierre acknowledged that its operations are financed by way of donations from residents and private acquaintances who help the initiative.
“Individuals who imagine on this effort didn’t need to go away me alone,” he mentioned. “They’re serving to cowl primary prices so the brokers can perform.”
That funding construction, much like what has been reported in Miragoâne, has raised questions amongst authorized analysts about oversight, accountability and the blurring of traces between judicial authority and policing.
Early affect—and dangers
A number of residents say the brigade’s presence has introduced restricted aid. Nighttime motion has elevated, and a few enterprise house owners report feeling safer opening later.
“We’re beginning to breathe somewhat,” mentioned downtown resident Wilner Norméus. “The streets are calmer than they have been earlier than.”
“The brigade is the safety unit of the Authorities Commissioner, however I expanded this pressure by choosing males to patrol with me each evening to ease the Haitian Nationwide Police’s workload.”
Jéir Pierre, Port-de-Paix Authorities Commissioner
Vladimir Jean, who was robbed in December, mentioned one of many males who attacked his household was later killed close to the positioning of the theft. Nevertheless, police sources confirmed that the operation was carried out by officers from the Departmental Unit for Sustaining Order (UDMO), not the federal government commissioner’s brigade.
The particular brigade itself has come below hearth. Throughout a patrol within the La Coupe neighborhood on Dec. 26, 2025, armed males shot on the unit, wounding member Marc Tayson Michel. Pierre confirmed that Michel was struck by two bullets and later acquired medical remedy. He has since been in steady circumstances, officers mentioned.
Issues over legality and oversight
Human rights advocates and safety analysts warn that prosecutor-led safety items—working exterior formal police command buildings—threat abuses and confusion, particularly in a rustic the place accountability mechanisms are weak.
Even so, public help stays sturdy amongst residents exhausted by years of unchecked violence and sluggish police response instances.
Regardless of the patrols, insecurity persists. On Jan. 11, the physique of an aged man was discovered with obvious gunshot wounds within the Morne Dorima neighborhood, underscoring the bounds of the brigade’s attain.
As Haiti’s safety disaster deepens, the rise of prosecutor-led enforcement—as soon as thought-about distinctive—is changing into extra frequent, elevating elementary questions concerning the separation of powers, the function of the judiciary, and the way far native officers can go when the state’s major safety establishments fall brief.
“We actually have a brigade to safe properties and companies at evening,” Pierre mentioned. “I stay decided to stop Port-de-Paix from falling into the palms of assassins, as we’ve seen elsewhere.”