Think outside the box

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Given that two robberies have taken place weeks apart in Portmore, involving Beryllium security personnel being ambushed by thieves, while the employees were doing their jobs, Beryllium (and other such security service providers) and the banks must change their modus operandi.

They need to think, and act, outside the box.

One suggestion I have is, whenever security personnel are delivering monies or receiving monies from financial institutions, they should not make it obvious. Perhaps security personnel using nondescript vehicles and wearing nondescript clothing, while carrying out their duties, would assist greatly in their not attracting the attention of criminal elements.

Also, instead of security personnel holding bags (usually black) containing large sums of money in their hands, they could use less obvious types of containers, for example, briefcases, large envelopes.

In terms of being armed, security personnel could have, on their person but hidden from public view, smaller but still quite effective weapons, such as state-of-the-art handguns.

Last, it seems to me that the more security personnel, who, on a daily basis, deal with large sums of cash, blend in with the public/bank customers, the less likely the chance they will be identified as cash-carrying security officers and, as a result, be targeted, ambushed and robbed.

PATRICK GALLIMORE