BEHAVIOURAL specialists say the series of brazen attacks on Beryllium security teams in recent times is undoubtedly shredding away at any scintilla of safety and peace the average Jamaican would have been holding on to, against the backdrop of more dangerous crimes being publicised.

Dr Jason Wynter, chair of the Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences at Northern Caribbean University, told the Jamaica Observer that panic is a natural reaction from the Jamaican people.

“I would imagine, based on the advanced level of criminality, where they [criminals] are looking at an armed group who can defend themselves in armoured vehicles, and carrying out attacks in broad daylight, that there is an impact on someone who cannot defend themselves. It does create a little more alarm and panic in the general public,” he said.

Gunmen again attacked a Beryllium Limited security unit at a gas station in Albion, St Thomas, on Saturday morning. Head of corporate communications at Guardsman Group, Lieutenant George Overton, confirmed that an officer was injured in the incident.

The officer, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, was shot in the back causing blunt force trauma.

Overton also noted that the criminals did not make off with any cash.

The Observer understands that the vehicles believed to be involved in the attack were intercepted shortly after the incident, and the men engaged the police in a shootout.

When contacted, Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay, head the Corporate Communications Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, said, “There was an active shooting scene. I am awaiting to hear from investigators to know the outcome.”

Commenting on the fear of security guards and their families at this time, and Jamaicans at large, psychologist Dr Leahcim Semaj told the Observer that the State’s public relation team continues to fail at trying to sell the message that crime is trending downwards.

“The PR of the Government would like us to believe that crime is under control and is being reduced, but press releases and the statistics do not appease people’s concern. Everything that we hear, everything that strikes home, provides an emotional imbalance. Data does not move people. Emotions move people,” Dr Semaj lamented.

“An armoured car is designed for moving large sums of money. Security guards are trained and equipped with bulletproof vests and any kind of weapons that they need. We have a situation where criminal elements are willing to take these people on. We are seeing it at the west, at the eastern end of the island, in the Corporate Area…”

Dr Semaj said this means that the feeling that regular citizens will have is that they are on their own if they can’t protect themselves against that kind of assault.

The private security entities, he added, are under major attack.

“I wonder how they and their families feel having gone through the recent concerns regarding the new contracts in light of this, should we say, open warfare. This is a very painful time for persons to be living in Jamaica. People are on edge,” said Dr Semaj.

On Sunday, March 19, four security guards were shot and injured in an attack on a Beryllium van in Braeton Parkway, Portmore, St Catherine, where they made off with some $23 million. Videos that were circulated on social media showed that the security team and gunmen appeared to be involved in a gun battle at the Scotiabank location.

In a statement, the company had said the driver of the vehicle and three other crew members were all shot and injured in the attack, and advised that it is cooperating with the police in ongoing investigations of the matter.

Almost a month prior to that, gunmen attacked another Beryllium team, leaving a security guard dead and two others injured. The criminals made off with $10 million in cash from the Portmore Pines plaza incident.

In February, a security officer, who requested anonymity, pointed to the terrors of doing routine transactions.

“It will make us more exposed to being a victim. If a man knows that you go to 15 John Road every Wednesday morning at 10:30 with money, what do you think will eventually happen?” he lamented to the Observer.

“If every single time a team turns up at the same time, at the same location, park the vehicle in the same space, it makes it easier for somebody to plan an ambush.”