Imagine the scene when you are responsible for the protection of a very important person and an armed assailant attempts to assassinate the individual by shooting at him with a handgun. This was the situation for members of the Haitian National Police (HNP) during a simulated exercise at the Haitian Police Academy on 20 January 2012. During a graduation ceremony, eight members of the HNP who successfully completed training, as well as three other recognized HNP trainees as Close Protection Officers, demonstrated their newly learned skills.

In conjunction with United Nations Police Officers (UNPol), members of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the HNP has begun courses the last two weeks to train Close Protection Officers for service in Haiti. During this training cycle, 20 HNP officers began the training with another group of 85 being vetted and integrated into training scheduled to take place until June 2012. Of this group, one was a female HNP officer. According to UNPol Laurent Defossez, who is assigned to the UNPol-HNP Development Police component, “A Close Protection Officer is somebody who is able to give his life to protect a Very Important Person (VIP).” Defossez describes the skills needed to serve as a Close Protection Officer as “intelligent, efficient, professional and knowledgeable of what weapons to use and when to use them.” With a crowd of dignitaries and MINUSTAH and HNP colleagues looking on, the newly minted HNP Close Protection Officers and MINUSTAH UNPol ran through three different scenarios, including one attempted assassination, a disturbance where empty water bottles were thrown at the MINUSTAH UNPol playing the role of the protected VIP, and one in which a lone individual attempted to break through the Close Protection Officers' security perimeter. To the cheers of the dignitaries on hand, the trainees demonstrated their new expertise and extracted their principle from danger each time. This training and the demonstrated effectiveness shows the value of the partnership between MINUSTAH UNPol and the HNP. As each new group of officers is trained, the increased professionalism of the HNP will fulfill the mandate of MINUSTAH by aiding the HNP in professionally handling its law-enforcement to the level of modern and accepted standards. All officers, UNPol and Haitians alike, are to be commended. Billy Young- MINUSTAH/UNPol journalist