PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) — A new report by the Defense National Network of Human Rights (RNDDH) shows that 35 members of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) were killed during a 14-month period.

In its report for the period January 3, 2015 to March 18 this year, the RNDDH said that 34 police officers were shot and one died as a result of a knife attack. It said five inspectors were among those killed while 37 others were also injured during the period.

The majority of police officers assassinated (33 of 35) were in the metropolitan area: Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Carrefour and Pétionville, or in remote communes such as Croix-des-Bouquets, Arcahaie, Grand-Goâve, Petit-Goâve, Ganthier, Gressier. The other two police officers were killed in the Artibonite and the north of the country.

In most cases, PNH officers have been victims of armed attacks perpetrated by unidentified individuals aboard motorcycles, travelling without license plates, the report noted.

The 19-page report accuses the judicial authorities of not doing much to deal with “this phenomenon of insecurity which is clearly increasing in the country.

“Many armed individuals involved in the perpetration of wrongdoing were detained by PNH and then quickly released by the judicial authorities in suspicious circumstances,” the report added.