Adams says gaps evident even as Beryllium defends training

Retired crime-fighter Reneto Adams has maintained that the training of some security guards to deal with surprise attacks seems to be lacking following the emergence of footage showing Beryllium guards fleeing – one tossing his weapon – as they came under gunfire on the weekend.

The guards were in the process of replenishing an ATM with cash in Albion, St Thomas, when they came under fire.

“... There is training for surprise attacks and ambush, so with these attacks becoming more frequent, the guard company must provide this kind of training,” Adams told The Gleaner.

“From what I have seen on the CCTV footage, the attackers were not trained gunmen and they could have been neutralised if the guards were trained to handle surprise attacks. Guards transporting large sums of cash must always anticipate a surprise attack or an ambush,” insisted the retired senior superintendent of police, who owns and manages a private security company.

The controversial retired crime fighter noted that he had warned the country 22 years ago that crime would escalate if firm actions were not taken to arrest it in its infancy.

“Crime would not be where it is now if I was given the support to stomp it out before it become rooted in the society. There is only one way to deal with these types of men, and you can interpret this any way you wish,” Adams told The Gleaner.

He said that there should also be training to guide guards who temporarily lose their weapons to be able to recover them and put themselves in a position to respond to any threat that they face.

“I don’t run from gunshot. It is like Bob Marley music to me, and I dance to it in a positive way. I don’t run away. All I do is put myself in a position to respond,” the retired cop said.

However, Lt George Overton, director of operations at the Guardsman Group, under which Beryllium falls, has strongly defended the company’s training programme.

“Hindsight is 20/20. Therefore, I will allow all those who run their mouths to continue to run their mouths. The training that we undertake did not start yesterday. We have been in this business for over 50 years, so we know what we are doing,” he told The Gleaner.

Overton added that all the weapons belonging to the company were recovered safely and stressed that the crooks did not succeed in getting any cash. He further explained that the guard had dropped his weapon after being hit in the back of his bulletproof vest, but he was able to recover the gun as he was not seriously injured.

Overton said Beryllium has been targeted by the robbers because the company is the dominant service provider of cash to the banking sector and the criminals are only interested in money.

On Monday, Overton said that after Sunday’s delay in service, all ATM banking services were back to normal.

“We had two things impacting at the same time – the new limits put in place by the banks because they have been losing money and have reduced the exposure at the ATMs, as well as the little disruption in our services, but everything is back to normal,” he said.

Meanwhile, Guardsman Group CEO Kenneth Benjamin on Saturday pushed back against public speculation that the attacks could have been orchestrated by inside sources.

He told The Gleaner that all the guards given cash-in-transit assignments are rigorously screened and must submit to a polygraph examination, especially after incidents of this nature.