Fifteen years ago, Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond spent a year in Haiti training 7,000 police under the auspices of the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program. He has kept in touch with his colleagues in the country and with the organization.
ICITAP is a U.S. government program that works in more than 60 countries to develop law enforcement institutions that support national security and foreign policy objectives.
Mr. Hammond, following 17 years as deputy sheriff of Hamilton County, spent 12 years with ICITAP, training police in Haiti, Russia, Romania, Jamaica and Jordan, where he trained Iraqis.
He recently sat down with the Times Free Press to discuss Haiti.
Q. In 1995, you termed Haiti “an emerging democracy.” Do you still consider it that or is it heading that way?
A. There seems to be very little difference from when I was there. Haiti is one of those countries that really struggles with coming out of the Dark Ages when it comes to just every facet of their society. Basically, the United States, France and Canada really have held that country from just completely imploding on itself. A country of 9 million people in a country about the size of Maryland or New Jersey. You just have people stepping on people.
Q. Did the Haitian men and women you helped train replace what you referred to as the repressive military regime?
A. Well, the military was abolished. And they restored a fair degree of order, pending the training of these some 7,000 police. There has been some ongoing attempt to continue to train since those days I was down there. It’s my understanding that very little is changed. They still are underequipped, understaffed — no real solid command structure other than political appointees.
Q. Does the Haitian National Police Training Academy where you helped train cadets still exist?
A. All of that has been turned over to their government, plus a small contingent of special consultants like the role that I had down there. Is it much better than it was? Not according to everything I can see.
Q. You said in 1995 that “people are hungry to see the law and order that speaks to the needs of human dignity and respect for individual rights without regard to race, color or class distinction. Do you think the people still have those feelings?
A. Well, I think you’ll find that among all people in all countries. Again, with Haiti, one of the biggest problems is there’s so much illiteracy and so much superstition. It is very difficult to have a stable government or to give people the kind of opportunities they need to stabilize the country such as … clean water, good roads and education, the things you and I take so much for granted.
Q. How did the conditions and acceptance of what you were doing in Haiti compare to the places you subsequently served in the same role?
A. Leaving Haiti after a year and then going on to other missions, including three years in the Middle East, I felt like we were miles ahead in these other countries because you, for the most part, did have a basic, stable government and infrastructure available to you. For the average person in Haiti, each day is all about finding enough to eat to survive for the day rather than to concentrate on how do you build a good infrastructure.
Q. Without the infrastructure, will the country fall back into even more problems than there were before?
A. I can’t see the country falling much lower than it’s already at. You’re looking for a mass amount of violence and death unless somebody’s takes charge. … It’s a beautiful island. It would be a beautiful tourist center, but until you could get hold of a proper educational system and some proper, basic infrastructure, you’re not going to be able to do anything with it.