	Background

According to State and USAID, the Northern Triangle countries of El  Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (see fig. 2). Agencies Have Established Objectives and Delivered Training to Professionalize Police but Have Not Consistently Done So Related to Respect for Human Rights Agencies Have Established Training Objectives to Professionalize Police and Have Delivered Such Training

Global, regional, and country-specific strategies outlining U.S. policy in El  Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras all include objectives to  professionalize police. Federal standards for internal control state that  management should set objectives or other internal control mechanisms  to meet an entity’s mission, strategic plan, and goals. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

While USAID has established few specific objectives or other internal  control mechanisms to include human rights content in police training,  according to USAID officials, training delivered to police in El Salvador,  Guatemala, and Honduras during fiscal years 2014 through 2017  included content on respect for human rights. Department of State (State)

State has not established specific objectives or other internal control  mechanisms to ensure police training incorporates content promoting  respect for human rights. Further, without such objectives or  internal control mechanisms, it may be difficult for these agencies to  account for the extent to which implementing partners include human  rights content or to assess progress being made with respect to partner  nation police forces’ respect for human rights—a key goal of U.S. strategy  in Central America. Agencies Collect Some Information on the Number of Police Trained, but State Lacks Readily Available, Reliable Data on This Indicator

		DOD and USAID Have Collected Some Information on the Number of Police Trained

While DOD and USAID training for recipients in the Northern Triangle  may include police participants, police training is not a primary element of  DOD and USAID assistance in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Objective 3.1 of  the U.S. Strategy for Central America is to “Professionalize Civilian  Police,” and a related indicator is the “number and percentage of civilian  police trained by INL.” However, INL officials in Washington, D.C., told us  that while they collect data for certain types of police training, such as  training provided through the ILEA program, they do not have reliable  information readily available on the total number of police trained through  INL-funded projects. Without such information,  INL cannot accurately assess the number of police trained in the Northern  Triangle—a key indicator in the U.S. Strategy for Central America. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

Senate Report 115-125 accompanying the National Defense  Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 includes a provision for us to report  on various aspects of U.S. police training efforts in El Salvador,  Honduras, and Guatemala. In this report, we examine, for the Northern  Triangle, (1) the extent to which U.S. agencies have established  objectives for and delivered training to professionalize police, including  promoting respect for human rights; (2) the extent to which agencies have  collected data related to police training indicators; and (3) the actions U.S.  agencies have planned and undertaken to support the ability of partner  nations to sustain police training. In addition to reviewing documents, we conducted fieldwork in El  Salvador and interviewed agency officials in Honduras; Guatemala; and  Washington, D.C., who oversee and conduct police training. We also reviewed documents from  DOD, USAID, and State about police assistance efforts implemented  during fiscal years 2014 through 2017 that agencies identified as projects  that included assistance for police in El Salvador, Guatemala, and  Honduras.
Why GAO Did This Study

Several U.S. agencies train police in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, where corruption and human rights abuses have traditionally plagued civilian police forces. State, the primary agency responsible for foreign police assistance, allocated about $37 million to train police in these countries from appropriations for fiscal years 2014 through 2017. Although it is not a focus of their efforts, DOD and USAID also train police in the Northern Triangle.
Senate Report 115-125 includes a provision for GAO to report on various aspects of U.S. police training efforts in the Northern Triangle. In this report, GAO examines, among other objectives, the extent to which U.S. agencies have (1) established objectives for and delivered training to professionalize police, including promoting respect for human rights, and (2) collected data related to police training indicators. GAO analyzed agency data and project documents, including for 22 State and USAID-funded projects implemented during fiscal years 2014 through 2017 that agencies identified as including assistance for police. GAO also conducted fieldwork in El Salvador and interviewed agency officials in Honduras; Guatemala; and Washington, D.C., who oversee and conduct police training.

What GAO Found

Agencies have established objectives and delivered training to professionalize police in Central America's Northern Triangle but have not consistently done so to promote police respect for human rights. U.S. strategies include objectives to professionalize police, and the Departments of State (State) and Defense (DOD) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have delivered related training (see figure). These strategies also highlight the importance of police respect for human rights, but agencies have few objectives or other control mechanisms to ensure police receive related training. For instance, none of the 14 State projects and 2 of the 8 USAID projects that GAO reviewed had such objectives. Officials said this is because objectives were designed to be broader in focus. DOD also does not have objectives but has other control mechanisms to ensure its training includes human rights content. Federal standards for internal control call for managers to establish control mechanisms consistent with priorities. Without them, it may be difficult for State and USAID to ensure that training supports agencies' goals to promote police respect for human rights.
DOD, State, and USAID collect information on police training, but State lacks readily available, reliable data on the number of police trained—a key indicator in the U.S. Strategy for Central America . State's data are not readily available because, according to officials, the process to track training is decentralized and data are not consolidated. Further, GAO found State's fiscal year 2017 police training data to be unreliable because, among other reasons, the data did not include training delivered by some implementers. Officials noted that State did not have sufficient internal control mechanisms and staff in place to collect data as it expanded police training in the Northern Triangle. Without such data, State cannot accurately assess its efforts in Central America.

What GAO Recommends

To improve oversight of police training in the Northern Triangle, State and USAID should design control mechanisms to ensure human rights content is included as appropriate, and State should improve police training data. State and USAID concurred.