Kenyan officers say some of their delayed reinforcements will arrive by the end of this year, bringing their total to 1,000.
And support is needed urgently. There are areas in Port-au-Prince that are so tightly controlled by the gang that they are virtually impenetrable to the police.
In one such area, Wharf Jérémie, nearly 200 civilians were killed by a single gang over a single weekend in early December.
In total, there are an estimated 100 gangs in the Port-au-Prince area, with boys as young as nine joining their ranks.
And the problem seems to be growing. According to the UN children’s agency UNICEF, the number of children recruited into gangs has increased by 70% in a year.
One of the gang leaders they flock to is Tee Lapley, whose real name is Renelle Destino.
As head of the Grand Ravine gang, he commands more than 1,000 men from his fortified headquarters high above Port-au-Prince.
Gangs like his have worsened an already dire situation in Haiti and are known to kill, rape and terrorize civilians.
Grand Ravine is notorious for kidnapping people for ransom, a practice that earned Tee Lapley a spot on the FBI’s wanted list.
