Haiti loses another officer in line of duty amid rising gang control    

PORT-AU-PRINCE — The killing of a SWAT officer and member of the Haitian National Police’s (PNH) 30th promotion, Esdras Hilaire, during an anti-gang operation in the Pacot neighborhood of Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, June 4, is the latest in a string of police deaths that reflects Haiti’s deteriorating security environment.

The officer was killed during an operation to dislodge gangs in Pacot. Hilaire, a member of the Haitian National Police’s elite team, was shot in the neck during an operation aimed at removing members of the “Viv Ansanm” gang coalition in the area, an upscale section of the capital that has seen rising attacks.

Despite immediate efforts by fellow officers to evacuate him, Hilaire succumbed to his injuries. His death was confirmed by the National Union of Haitian Police Officers (SYNAPOHA), which used the occasion to express solidarity with officers on the front lines and praise the police’s recent operations in Mirebalais, Pétion-Ville and Kenscoff.

“We salute the courage of the mobilized police officers and reaffirm our support for all agents in the fight for national security,” the union said in a statement posted on X.

Since 2020, the country has faced a multidimensional crisis: political paralysis, economic collapse and escalating gang violence. Armed groups now control over 28 neighborhoods—most of them in the West department—displacing more than a million people and outmatching national security forces in resources and coordination. Despite the arrival of a UN-backed multinational security support mission, police remain targets, and public institutions are under siege.

At least four police officers have been killed in under two months

Hilaire’s death brings to at least four the number of officers killed by gang gunfire in less than eight weeks. On April 8, Officer Garry Lyma, 33, of the Temporary Anti-Gang Unit (UTAG) was shot dead in Mirebalais. The following day, two divisional inspectors, Rony Jose and Job Sulnord of the Departmental Unit for Law Enforcement (UDMO), were killed during a failed kidnapping intervention near the Port-au-Prince International Airport.

On April 12, gangs from Grand-Ravine attacked a group of officers in the Kenscoff locality of Godé. Five were injured, and one was reported missing. According to the PNH, the officers had abandoned their vehicles to spend the night at a private residence.

These incidents are part of a growing pattern. In March, an unidentified officer was killed during a gang confrontation in Kenscoff. In February, two officers—Grégory Pierre-Michel and Denizé Stanley—were gunned down in a Delmas nightclub under unclear circumstances. In January, officers Arold Théodore and Jean Roody Vilmond were killed in separate attacks in Port-au-Prince.

Violence is spreading across civilian and institutional spaces.

According to the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights (CARDH), gangs have overtaken more than 28 zones—25 in the West Department alone. Between January and March 2025, at least 1,600 people were killed and more than 500 injured in gang-related violence or clashes involving security forces. Another 161 kidnappings were reported in the same period, many of them in the lower Artibonite Department.

Beyond human casualties, the damage to infrastructure has been severe. CARDH reports that 102 public institutions and 622 private facilities have been displaced, vandalized or destroyed.

Despite efforts by the PNH and international security partners, state capacity remains critically weak. CARDH and other watchdog organizations are urging the Haitian government and international allies to invest in a long-term security strategy. Their recommendations include:

• Creation of a fully equipped counterterrorism and anti-gang unit.
• Expansion of the PNH and Haitian armed forces.
• Lifting of the arms embargo imposed after the 1991 coup.
• Air, land and maritime logistical support for large-scale operations.
• Construction of a high-security national prison.

“Haiti could become a territory entirely controlled by terrorist groups, including within its own institutions,” CARDH warned in a recent report.

As security operations continue and violence escalates, the death of Officer Hilaire underscores the personal cost of this crisis. It is a grim reminder that until systemic changes are made, both the Haitian police and the civilians they serve remain vulnerable to the nation’s growing instability.

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