After conducting a fact-finding mission and approving the concept through the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations ( DPKO )’ s Police Division and through MINUSTAH , Norway decided to form a Specialized Police Team to tackle the issue of police response to sexual and gender-based violence . This SPT was composed of five police officers . The SPT also made an effort to include French-speaking UN Police ( UNPOL ) officers on the team ( since few Norwegian police spoke French ). As such , they formed a partnership with Canada , because in addition to possessing French language skills , the Canadians had a similar policing culture to Norway and so approached project considerations in a like-minded way .
The Norwegian SPT arrived in Haiti in October 2010 . When the SPT deployed , however , the mission was not prepared to handle it . MINUSTAH initially sought to assign the officers to individual posts , as was typically the case for IPO assignments , even though the SPT was designed to work together as a team . As such , it took the SPT time to establish its place within the UNPOL component of the MINUSTAH mission , as its members were not initially allocated an office , equipment , or vehicles . Once the SPT did become established , the mission requested a specific project proposal from the team . The SPT proceeded to perform a comprehensive assessment on SGBV in the Haitian police and judiciary systems in order to form the requested proposal . However , due in part to poor communication between the police and civilian components of the mission , similar assessments had already been performed , which the SPT members did not find out about until after completing their own assessment . Despite these delays and redundancies , the SPT completed a viable project proposal .
The first phase of the SPT proposal (“ SGBV I ”) implemented from 2012-2015 included two strategic objectives : 1 ) professionalize the HNP , and 2 ) strengthen HNP operational capacities . In order to contribute to professionalizing the HNP , basic investigation courses on SGBV were organized and facilitated in Haiti ’ s ten regional departments . SGBV requires sensitivity in terms of how victims and witnesses are interviewed and evidence is collected , so special training is required in order to investigate SGBV cases in a trauma-sensitive manner . In close consultation with local Haitian police , a one-week course was designed , utilizing local instructors from the Haitian Police School , with the intent not only to train technical skills but to create a mind-set change in attitudes of officers towards sexual violence . In prior years , the HNP had often been trained by various foreign police with competing policing models which were driven by foreign interests instead of local needs . A priority of the Norwegian SPT was to ensure that any programs designed would connect to actual needs on the ground in a sustainable way , so the SPT consulted closely with local HNP and HNP senior management , valuing local knowledge and buy-in for the project .
Over the first four years of SGBV I , the SPT trained 35 HNP trainers , who in turn trained a total of 1191 Haitian police personnel ( 9 % of the entire HNP ). The SGBV course that they designed was also incorporated into basic training at the Haitian Police School ; since 2014 , all Haitian police recruits have received this one week of SGBV training during their 7-9 months of basic training . Phase one also included a capacity-building initiative for infrastructure development . Via this initiative , fifteen offices for SGBV were built or renovated in order to increase police reception facilities for SGBV victims to enhance privacy and reduce stigma . After the success of phase one (“ SGBV I ”), a second phase (“ SGBV II ”) was developed for the following years 2015-2017 . SGBV II focused specifically on training specialized investigators at the Central Directorate of Judicial Police , who will be responsible for developing standard operating procedures ( SOPs ) and focusing on investigating more serious cases .
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