MANDEVILLE, Manchester – A group of business operators from this central Jamaica parish, apparently fed up with the State’s lethargic response to the growing crime wave here, have formed their own security squad – M Central Watch.

However, the police say they have not been informed about the group.

“I know nothing of anybody, and any group, and nobody has spoken to me or any of my officers about anything or about their intention to do any such thing. We have been hearing it, but we know nothing of it,” said Superintendent Howard Francis.

When pressed about whether the police would welcome such an organisation to help fight crime, the superintendent said that would not be his decision to make. “That would be something for the commissioner of police to consider. I answer to the police commissioner,” he said.

Business operators confirmed that the police were “not yet formally informed” about the squad, but said members had no plans to obstruct the work of the police.

The squad, which the business operators made clear was not a vigilante group, will be comprised of well-armed and highly trained firearm experts who will be “going after criminals in the parish who have been preying on business people and their families”.

The members, said the business operators, hold firearm licences and are affiliated to the local rifle association.

“.We are sick and tired of business people being extorted, threatened and having their family members kidnapped,” said a Mandeville businessman who leads the group.

The businessman, who requested anonymity, told the Observer that thugs have been “sending messages and threats to business people”, and were reportedly stepping up their fight against the Mandeville business community.

The criminals, he said, have blamed businessmen and women for the installation of closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) in Mandeville. “They say there are a number of cameras in the town, so they are taking it to the streets,” said the businessman.

But he was adamant that the business operators would not roll over and die. “We are coming out, we are not going to sit back and allow criminals to kill us off,” he said.

The M Central Watch security response team will have 20 members, eight of whom have already been recruited.

“.They have to go through training. Their training has to be world-class,” said the team leader. He, however, declined to disclose the type of training that members would undergo, offering only that they were being trained by highly respected firearm experts in the parish.

“When we get a call, we will just make a phone call and other members of the team arrive on the scene at the same time,” he explained. “We’ll have ‘professional snipers’ on the scene and we will use the necessary force. When we begin to move, if you steal money, threaten anybody, rape or take away any members of the business community we will deal with the case, investigate it and we are coming after you. Don’t bother to say yu bad and yu from a bad community, we’re coming for you.”

“We are the business people, we are the ones who are paying the taxes, we are the ones who keep the country going. They (the criminals) are trying to destroy us, so we are protecting the country. By coming after us, the criminals are looking for the jackpot, and that is what we’re preventing,” he said.

He said the squad has already been registered with the Companies Office of Jamaica, formerly the Registrar of Companies. When the Observer checked with the Companies Office they confirmed that M Central Watch had started the registration process, but said that it was not yet complete.

Formation of the security squad comes just two weeks after the kidnapping of the 12-year-old son of businessman and politician Paul Lyn. The boy was snatched while on his way to school by armed men who reportedly demanded a $10-million ransom. They later released the boy unharmed after the family reportedly paid $4 million.

The boy’s kidnapping was said to be the fourth in central Jamaica this year.

The special Mandeville squad is being formed while two men charged with the abduction and murder of retired Mandeville couple Julia and Richard Lyn are now on trial before the Supreme Court.

The Manchester police have reported an increase in serious crimes, including robberies and break-ins.

There has also been an increase in extortion in Manchester, especially the capital Mandeville, which helped in the push for the installation of the CCTV cameras in the town.