MANDEVILLE, Manchester – President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce Simone Spence-Johnson is calling for stronger security measures in this south-central parish following an intensive week of crimes, including a double murder and armed robberies.

Spence-Johnson believes the ongoing states of emergency (SOEs) in neighbouring parishes is a contributing factor to migrant criminals targeting Manchester.

“We are not necessarily calling for one (SOE) here. I do want to call for tighter security, because if it is that you are flushing out from the two ends, Clarendon and St Ann, and they [criminals] are coming into Manchester, what is happening here is [that] you are going to have an upsurge,” she told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

She is calling for the police to increase operations and border patrolling for Manchester in search of criminals.

“We need to put strategies in place to kind of circumvent that, so let us beef up the security. Let us kind of lock down the borders of the parish, so that entry [of criminals] to the parish is hard or coming out of the parish is hard, so we know who is in here we can get them out and who is trying to come in they can’t do so easily,” she said.

Last week gunmen carried out at least four armed robberies in Manchester spanning the north, central and southern sections of the parish.

On Friday gunmen killed two men including a Chinese national who operated a supermarket in Porus. Three other people were reportedly also shot and injured in the incident. The gunmen fired multiple shots as they entered and exited the supermarket, sending people scampering.

The police at Williamsfield, west of Porus, subsequently held four suspects, including two teenagers and a 21-year-old man, in a roadblock. Police said an AK-47 and two handguns were seized.

A reliable source told the Observer that detectives are following leads into what is believed to be a syndicate. A police constable is among those being probed in relation to the recent crimes.

The source said the constable is not assigned to the Manchester division.

The source added that a man who was shot by a licensed firearm holder during last Wednesday’s armed robbery spree in Cross Keys, south Manchester, was found dead in southwestern Clarendon.

Detectives theorise that the man’s body was dumped by his cronies following the robbery of a gas station, bar, lottery outlet and restaurant in Cross Keys.During that robbery a licensed firearm holder challenged a group of gunmen, one of which was shot and injured before fleeing the area.The licensed firearm holder was also shot and taken to hospital for treatment.Police are relying on forensics as they follow leads into a series of robberies in Manchester last week.On Thursday, head of the Manchester police Superintendent Shane McCalla said two suspects were arrested and an illegal firearm seized during an interception of a motor vehicle by an anti-robbery task force in Osbourne Store, Clarendon.The suspects are reportedly linked to robberies in Cross Keys and Knockpatrick.

McCalla in addressing the local municipality on Thursday urged business owners to do “target hardening”.

“They need to put more investment into the security going into Christmas. For the supermarkets, the bars, a little more due diligence needs to be done in the persons you hire to work inside your establishment. We have arrested a number of persons in connection to robberies and when the investigation drills down they were set up from inside. A lot of the people are employed from neighbouring parishes,” he said.

In the meantime, Spence-Johnson is imploring businesses to ramp up their security and be more vigilant.

“The chamber of commerce is a very good partner with the police and we will support them through and through. We want to ensure that all hands are on deck and to look at the possible strategies to put a cap on that, because having a syndicate and inside job just makes it that much harder to close the gap,” she said.

“We really are encouraging the business community to be more vigilant in this time [Christmas]. We want to encourage them to look at their [operations]… Crime fighting is everybody’s business, not just the business of the police, and we the chamber are really encouraging people to be more vigilant and look out for each other,” she added.