PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitian leaders have removed Frantz Elbé, the beleaguered director of Haiti’s National Police, following months of criticism that he wasn’t doing enough to protect officers under assault by gangs.

A government official not authorized to speak to the media told The Associated Press on Saturday that former Haitian police chief Normil Rameau will once again take the helm of an underfunded and ill-equipped department that a U.N. report notes only has around 4,000 officers on duty at a time in a country of more than 11 million inhabitants. Rameau had been dismissed from the post nearly four years ago under a different administration,

More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured across Haiti in the first three months of the year as gang violence continues to surge.

Among those killed are nearly two dozen police officers, overwhelmed by gangs that control 80% of Port-au-Prince and are better-equipped and have more powerful weapons. The most recent killings targeted three officers from a newly formed anti-gang tactical unit who were on patrol in an armored vehicle. A fourth remains missing.