Extorted at home
Published:Sunday | May 9, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
BUILDING THE home of your dreams in Jamaica can quickly turn into a nightmare, as extortionists continue to stretch their tentacles beyond large-scale developments to the residential construction sites.
While residents are being forced to pay up or halt the construction of their homes, Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green, head of the Criminal Investigation Branch, is lamenting that the country needs stiffer penalties for criminals convicted on charges of extortion.
Green, who believes all forms of extortion are grossly under-reported, believes the prison time being handed down by the courts for extortion will not suffice.
"We believe it is (under-reported), but what deterrent is there when you may only get 15 months! And, the victim has to move, change their lifestyle and continue to live in fear and away from family and friends!"
The senior cop, who also heads the Major Investigation Task Force, described extortion as a very important area of interest for his team.
The fear factor has kept many victims of home-construction extortion silent as the police have had not received any complaints from prospective homeowners.
"Extortionists have always targeted a variety of persons - taxi/bus operators, small-business operators and construction sites - so if this is happening, then it is another construction site being targeted and, as such, not a shift in their activity," he said.
Weekly payments
But just last week,Albert Chisolm was forced to halt the construction of his home after thugs demanded money from him. Not long after digging the foundation, men approached the St Catherine resident and asked for weekly payments for the work to continue peacefully. He was forced to abruptly stop working on his house. He made no reports to the police.
Desmond Dunbar, a contractor with 28 years' experience in the construction industry, told The Sunday Gleaner that he had his first brush with extortionists some eight years ago while building his own home. After the work had started, a young man came on the site and asked for work, he recalled. Dunbar employed him. But he did no work, choosing rather to sit and watch while others laboured. The next phase of the construction came around and Dunbar did not rehire him.
"He said the work wouldn't go on. He brought several men with him (and) he destroyed several bags of cement," Dunbar recalled.
But Dunbar had a plan. He offered employment to the men who came with the thug who was threatening to halt the project. They accepted the job offer and the crook lost his clout. After that, Dunbar made a report to the police.
"I called the police because I cut away the support base and you are talking about eight years ago."
He says the extortionists today are more abrasive. "They are not asking for work - they are just saying you have to put them on the pay bill and tell you how much they want per week," Dunbar explained.
"They are actually bringing their guns on site nowadays," he added.
He told The Sunday Gleaner that one prospective homeowner was murdered because he did not meet the demands being made by the extortionists. After the killing, a friend of the deceased, who was also building in the same community, did not wait until the extortionists got around to him. He contacted them and made them an offer.
Forced to stop
Dunbar confirmed that some landowners, especially those using funds received from the National Housing Trust, are forced to stop the construction of their houses because they are unable to meet the demands of the extortionists.
Dunbar argued further that the contractors are more at risk than the prospective homeowners. As a result, he chooses the projects he accepts carefully. "I pick carefully the areas that I work in," Dunbar said while pointing out that he walks away from construction projects located on the fringes of the border between garrison and middle- to upper-income communities.
Names changed to protect identity.