Members of the UK-based company Task International are now in the island training local cops assigned to the freshly-formed anti-kidnapping unit.

The unit was first announced by government last May, as the island reeled from a spate of abductions.

Crime chief Lucius Thomas, who will take over as commissioner of police on Wednesday, officially opened the course at the Twickenham Park police academy last Monday.

“We are in the infant stages,” he said when pressed for details about when the unit would be fully up and running.

Thomas opted not to disclose how many members were on the team nor the name of the superintendent who will be team leader.

“For a commander, it’s superintendent rank. The rest of the people would be rank and file, which consists of constables to inspector,” he said. “That’s the level that we would want to go. It’s an operational team. It’s not going to be top-heavy.”

On May 19 of last year, a week after social worker Christine English was released by her abductors and allowed to return to her St Andrew home, national security minister Peter Phillips told Parliament that a special unit would be formed to address the worrying issue of kidnappings.

English was held for three days after she was abducted outside her Gordon Town home and a $6-million ransom demanded for her release. The ransom was later dropped to $2 million but it is unclear if it was ever paid.

Less than two weeks before English was snatched, the burnt body of another kidnap victim, 38 year- old Westmoreland resident Lolette Salmon, was found in her Toyota Rav 4.

At the time, the snatchings sparked fear that Jamaica was joining the ranks of Caribbean neighbours Trinidad and Guyana where kidnappings have become increasingly common over the years.

Phillips had sought, during his address to Parliament, to allay fears about a kidnapping trend developing here.

The security minister said then that he was determined to get to the bottom of the English abduction “because we are determined not to go the way of other regional territories faced with this problem.”

On July 5 of last year, Omar Walters, 18, from Craig Hill in Gordon Town faced an identification parade in connection with English’s kidnapping. He was later charged with her abduction.

In the early days, English’s abduction was also said to be linked to the notorious Joel Andem gang, known for its involvement in extortion rackets in sections of Kingston. But the police said they had no intelligence that the gang had factored in the crime.

The Andem gang was, however, blamed for the 2000 kidnapping of gas station operator Sylvia Edwards who was murdered and buried in a shallow grave after her family failed to pay a $200,000 ransom.

Last May Joel Andem, who had been on the run for four years, was captured and later charged with Edwards’ murder.

When Phillips first raised the issue of the anti-kidnapping unit in Parliament last year, he had said Scotland Yard would have provided the training.

That job has now fallen to a private company and without providing a specific figure, Thomas said the training was “costly”. He appeared to believe it was worth it, however, based on the reputation of Task International.

According to its website, the 15 year-old company specialises in “the fields of personal protection and safety services and in the provision of uniquely accredited training, support and consultancy in these areas”.

The company claims to have trained in excess of 5,000 service men and women and civilian candidates from over 33 countries, adding that the British Government was among its clients.

“We are also available for direct arrangements with overseas government departments, providing they are of “friendly nation” status with the UK,” notes Task International, which says Jamaica is among the countries where it has trained forces.