AMANDA - DON - JESSE - ET AL
Here is a copy of the message I just sent to everyone on the North Ambergris Caye Neighborhood watch e-mail list. I thought I would share it with you.

I beg everyone to attend tonight’s meeting. I attended the meetings on the 8th & 10th and was impressed with the quality of the input from the attendees.

HOWEVER – I have yet to see a list of those recommendations or any action taken on them. It is time that demands be made for actions.

After the last meeting I talked to OC Arnold and suggested a program whereby volunteers assisted the police and freed them up for more active police work. I would be willing to organize an auxiliary of 14 people; each person signing up for l/2 day. i.e. if I signed up for Monday morning I would be there every Monday morning, etc. I BELIVE THERE ARE THOSE OF YOU WHO WOULD SIGN UP FOR THIS SENSITIVE DUTY.

The sole function would be to take police reports. This volunteer force would arrive at the station with laptop computers containing a boiler plate form of questions to be asked. After finishing the intake a printout would be made and the person filing the complaint as well as the interview would sign it.

When I went in to file a missing persons report it took over one hour for the woman police officer to write out less than one page. People like you and me could do this in no more than 15 minutes.

OC Arnold said he would consider it and call me on Monday. I have not heard from him. I have pondered why they would be reluctant to accept this FREE help (just as they have rejected the constable program) and can only conclude that they would consider us spies. And yes, we would be a set of eyes seeing what goes on there. We have a right to know what goes on there and if they truly want to clean up the department they should welcome our support.

I will be there tonight and I will bring this up in open forum – not on the side as I did last time.

"I salute you for your efforts and hope that you will be successful in gathering and directing a group of volunteers who will offer to assist the Mayor with the development of a plan to make AC an independant city state from the mainland." -- Don Griefe

My comment:

Or, you can always move to Florida. Properties there are now going for half price thanks to the superior intelligence of the all-knowing.

And ScubaLdy, perhaps your FREE help comes at a steep price some people are just not willing to pay. Ever considered that?

Jesse, thanks for the invite. Sincerely.

See you there

I sent this to you via email but since you have posted here:

I disagree with the "spy" theory. We all need to realize that even though many of us would like to volunteer there are laws that must be adhered to. We need to realize that much of the information given and collected at the police station is sensitive and even potentially harmful.

Special constable training will help educate the volunteers.

Although it is extremely frustrating and painstakingly slow giving reports to the police, this is the method proscribed by law that must be followed.

I would imagine that Mr Arnold must confer with Police Headquarters and the legal department before he can accept volunteer help behind the desk of the police station. Who knows what type of civil rights could be affected or liability issues might be brought up by such actions.


And in addition - I served as the first female special constable back in the early 1990's and as the Chairperson of the Ambergris Caye Traffic Control Committee for a long three year stint - and one thing I realized along the way is that no matter how good your intentions are, the laws can often hinder your good will actions. Learning to work within the system is a fine art and the results are not always ideal.

Politics are politics are politics. Jobs are jobs are jobs. Politics are jobs and jobs are politics.

WOW Amanda – “Spy?” LOL What a problem we have in communicating – and we supposedly speak the same language.

I’m sure there is all kinds of red tape to make anything happen but why can’t we start moving into solutions – even if they are difficult – instead of beating our chest over the same old problems?

Tonight will be the 3rd meeting this month!

"Or, you can always move to Florida. Properties there are now going for half price thanks to the superior intelligence of the all-knowing."

ABS, where are these 1/2 price Florida properties? Please give us a list!

Thanks
Thomas Blackledge
(future gun dealer on the island)

Amanda, first off, I would like to apologize to you if I in any way offended you. A property tax issue is something that has ramifications countrywide, not just for San Pedranos. I will be honest in saying that it offended me to see your post implying that you and your group would be lobbying for higher property taxes because such a thing goes on to affect every Belizean down the road, not just San Pedro residents. It further offended me when your post was blocked to responses, implying censorship of the masses and a lack of transparency.

After perusing more closely some of the other threads that you have replied to, I realize now that you really are well meaning and sincerely want to help. I don't believe posing a public question and then blocking off responses is/was the way to go, but I am grateful that you do care. Sincerely.

That said, we need to be aware that the Belize Police Department is a NATIONAL police department, not a local municipal one. It is the equivalent of the FBI in the U.S. In the U.S., you don't call the FBI to resolve a local police issue. You call the local policeman who is paid by the local municipality the chief which is elected by that municipality's citizens. Therefore the entire police force is accountable to the residents of the municipality in which they serve.

The BZPD chief, on the other hand, is not elected. He is appointed by the Minister. Therefore, the NATIONAL Belize Police Chief is not accountable specifically to the citizens of San Pedro as he would be if he were elected/put there by the people of San Pedro. He is answerable to the pols at the Belmopan level, technicalities aside. Therefore, his accountability, although we may want it to be to the citizens, is really to his master. Chances are very high that on a daily basis the police minister who is sitting in his office in Belmopan has no idea what is happening in San Pedro. We can sugar coat this anyway we like but this is the situation in little Belize.

I would humbly suggest again that every effort be made to have the first of its kind municipal police department (private security), by and for the people of that municipality, be incorporated in SP. Ambergris Caye is a community of trend setters. There is no reason why it can't be done. And you would be 100% assured that your security force would be working with you to help you achieve your goals. Go one step further and ask for it to be funded by a portion of the hotel tax. Security on SP is a tourism issue and the BTB can/should help to pay for it. The good part is that the hotel tax does not go into that black hole called the Consolidated Revenue Fund run by the GoB. It goes into another hole called BTB projects.

The new CEO in the Ministry of Tourism is a fine young man by the name of Michael Singh. He is a business man, himself the owner of a tourism business on SP. I am sure he would be as interested as you to find a solution. Mr. Singh's email address is mike@belizetourism.org.

Otherwise, I believe that you will continue to find yourselves frustrated, as many others of us in Belize are, as a result of what will continue to be purely band aid solutions. There is clearly no will in Belmopan to do anything about crime. Decades have proved this. We can also sugar coat this as much as we like.

Belize-N-Us, they are all over Florida (and actually, all over the U.S.) but the majority of them in Florida are in the Cape Coral area. Two for one right now is what I hear. You can get a full list at the Remax website (or any other real estate site).

How much does it cost to build and operate a school system that makes attendance mandetory for all kids?
How much does it cost to staff a first class police department and build and operate a jail and municipal court?
How much does it cost to build a one mile long road north of the bridge?
How much does it cost to maintain the sanitation water, power and port systems?
How much does it cost to staff a fully operational taxing authority for a city?
Just do the arithmetic and subtract the current city income. Needs-Current income=Tax increase.

Please not that I did not include and funding or facilities for health care. If you want to know why just ask. The Ugly American Tourist