Spragga Benz: The Security Guard

Not many people really know the stories surrounding, “Spragga The Security Guard.”

This Camperdown High School graduate did not believe in hands-out; he wanted to work for whatever he needed in life. So, with Maritime Institute on the back-burner, Spragga became a hunter and this took him to the gates of a security firm called Ultra Protection Security Company.

“My sister’s husband formed a security company – Ultra Protection Security – and I was ready for my first assignment. This wàs manning traffic at Bellevue Hospital along Windward Road in Kingston.”

The proximity was perfect. The institution was about five minutes walk from Arrows a dubplate studio he had been going for a while, and Bellevue was a short-cut one could take to reach Doncaster.

“There wasn’t anything much to learn at this location. I was getting my pay which I needed to buy whatever I wanted. That was good, but my mind was stuck on music. And, the least opportunity I got I would be at Arrows studio. Ultra Protection Security also provided guards at Arrows.”

Spragga also worked at the Ministry of Health located along Dumfries Road, Kingston.

“There I worked for a few months. It was smooth sailing as, unlike Bellevue, whenever work was over this was like a ghost- town; there was hardly anyone left on the compound.”

A third location was at a hotel called Harlem close to Jones Town, Kingston. Here, were strict rules to look out for any unfamiliar faces.

“We were patrolling and one of the hotel’s owner was running his usual routine to make sure everything was intact. We had left our post unknowing that the boss would have missed us. So, he was climbing over a wall when we spotted him and got on the alert as we would have done to any stranger.”

As boss was about to jump the wall, Spragga’s team knew it wasn’t a duppy or a gunman, and never gave an order.

Don’t forget the next story: Spragga: The Dubplate Collector.

Only on the Reggae-Vibes site.

(Photo contributed by Spragga Benz)