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An officer guarding him smiled and said the police version of the events was different, but gave no further details.

"We patrol for 24 hours but we can't be everywhere," said another police officer. "With what little we have we aim to do the best possible."

In one downtown street, the Avenue of Miracles, police detained three looters who were raiding a pharmacy and forced them to the ground. Four other looters fled with police in hot pursuit, pistols drawn.

Police leaders are still trying to determine how many officers can report for work and how many police stations are still operational.

"We're not here to kill people," said an officer who declined to give his name. "The looters are everywhere."

In 2006 UN peacekeepers supported police in cracking down on the Cite Soleil crime lords, and spent bullets from the fierce gun battles between the two sides are still embedded in neighbourhood walls.

Store owner Wissam Hasboun, of Palestinian origin, said there's a rumour the entire city center will be razed soon and he doesn't want to lose his goods.

This hiatus is likely to be short-lived: the quake shattered the walls of the city's main prison,usa ugg boots, granting sudden freedom to some 4,000 convicts.

A store manager thought they had lost everything in the quake. She returned to find that the damaged building could be accessed -- but looters had been there first.

Haiti police count their losses, prepare for calamity