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VICTORIA HOUSE AMBERGRIS CAYE, BELIZE The resort offers accommodations ranging in size and style from charming Palapa roof casitas, colonial style Plantation rooms and suites to three individual beachfront villas. At the heart of the resort is a fabulous swimming pool set among tall swaying palm trees overlooking the white sand beaches and Caribbean. CLICK HERE |
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| San Pedro Daily |  |
Sunday, October 2, 2011 Ban styrofoam... |
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ISLAND
SUPERMARKET
"Best
Prices - Best Quality - Best Service"Phone: 501-226-2972 or 501-226-2973 FREE
DELIVERY
IN
TOWN
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Crimestoppers:
Confidence Building In Belize Crime Stoppers International
has a great track record
internationally, helping to make over one million arrests and has also
helped at recovering over 3 billion dollars in stolen property.
But, in Belize, it hasn't caught on that well: fear and aversion to the culture of so called snitching has played a major role in the public's reluctance to utilize the 800 number. But since the hotline was introduced almost six years ago by Rotary Belize, there's been some noticeable increase in calls made. We found out more today from Local Coordinator Cris Garcia: 
Cris Garcia, Crimestoppers
Belize
"We have seen increase in confidence in the amount of calls and in the amount successes since from then until now. However, we believe that we can do much better and hence we brought in our partners that partner with us, to make it possible so that the Belizean public can see them, hear them and gain confidence by knowing that we do not answer the calls here in Belize." 
Alex MacDonald, Regional
Chairperson
"Crimestoppes is growing fast every year in all corners of the world; it's in 32 countries around the world. People are beginning to understand how it works and when they understand how it works they start using the system. All Crimestoppers is a number. Here in Belize it's 0800-922-8477-TIPS, that number is all that the civilian board promote from the information they get from the community that gets forward to the law enforcement community and then it's then dealt with and then reported back to the civilian community. A guarantee the information will be dealt with. Crimestoppers give you the opportunity to make a call where no one knows who makes that call and the meticular in smaller communities were people know everybody and that's the advantage we also of having Miami-Dade county and so the telephone calls for Belizeans and 9 other smaller regions with in the Caribbean." 
To try and dispel that myth,
two seasoned Miami Dade
detectives
assigned to the Crimestoppers have been in the country meeting with law
enforcement officials and the media to bring a face to the
organization. Detectives, Aida Fina-Milian and Barbara Chavez say all
calls to the 0-800-922-TIPS hotline are remain completely anonymous.
Det. Barbara Chavez, Miami-Dade, Crimestoppers "All we ask for is the information regarding the crime that they are reporting, whether it's a murder or child abuse or robbery, any type of crime, narcotics or firearm anything that they know they would report it to us and that is the only information that we ask. We would never ask for the person's name or phone number, we don't have caller ID, and we do not trace the call. We do not want their information, we want it to be 100 percent anonymous so once they call us and they provide that information they are issued a confidential tip number and that is the number that they use if they need to call our office back to request a status or to add additional information that will assist the investigators in closing their case." 
Jim McFadzean
"How does one determine whether to call 911 or crimestoppers." Det. Aida Fina-Miliam, Miami-Dade, Crimestoppers "Well if there is any type of emergency that is a life threatening situation, anything that needs immediate response, remember that we are not local, we do not dispatch from our office, we are in Miami, so if there is anything that needs immediate attention from the police you need an officer to respond instantly, then that call would should be made to your local 911. If it's something about a case that has happened that the police are looking for information, or something that the police may not know is going on, narcotics activates or an unreported crime, then that information can be reported to crimestoppers. That's really what the program is about." Jim McFadzean "Barbara, can you tell us about the reward programs that comes with providing an anonymous tip. Should that be the sole reason why one calls Crimestoppers?" Det. Barbara Chavez, Miami-Dade, Crimestoppers "Well I believe that the sole reason should be, to make you own community safe, I believe that first and foremost, that's what should be their first concern. A reward is just an incentive, it's just our way of saying thak you for your information that lead to the arrest. Let me just add a little something here, the reward is paid upon arrest, the person does not have to be convicted they don't have to wait for a conviction; as long as the individual that they call on is arrested and charged they are eligible for the reward." An important note is that the detectives at the Crimes Stoppers' Call centers are all bi-lingual. CH7 Local
Chefs Step Up
Visitors
may come to Belize for the reef, the ruins, or the
relaxation, but they have to eat - and often times, the call on whether
a vacation was good or bad, comes down to how good the food was.
And that's why raising the
standards for Belizean chefs has
been a
long time quest. But now, it's gotten a real shot in the arm with the
Culinary Institute of America coming to Belize to provide training for
eight local chefs.
The idea is to bring Belize's culinary creations to an international level. We found out more about the intensive programme for Pro Chef Culinarians: 
Jim Scott, General
Manager, Radisson
"I think it's great for both from the tourism perspective and also from a local perspective when we certify chefs like this. It opens our local minds up to culinary opportunities and pleasing our pallets but it also adds greater value to having more individuals who are certified, who are trained to serve the diverse and very competitive needs of those who come here and visit us." The graduates include Elliot Almendarez who has his own catering business and Rueben Cano. Both come from varying backgrounds and work experience - and they told us how the training will factor into their work: 
Rueben Cano, Chef de Cuisine
"Well, I come from a family where we love to cook. I was not really into it but I did my cooking home making a simple eggs or something like that and on Sundays I would help my mom do the rice and beans, local Belizean food. Things occurred in our family that my father passed away and so my brother he, followed the culinary field so I used him as an example and I followed his footsteps." Jim McFadzean "It's a lot to cooking than most people realized, it has to do especially when you are doing it in the hospitality industry where you have to worry about cost and all that. This certification course it's an international certification. What have you learn from this international certification?" Rueben Cano, Chef de Cuisine "For example when you are making a soup we use simple water, we would de-bone the chicken depending on how you would want it and we threw away the bones. With that you can make a stock, the same stock you us to create a soup. you us your carrots, the skin from a carrots, the end you usually cut the end of the carrots, you can cut that off and put that in there, you create flavors into the water that you can get that nice flavor than using pure water. Instead of just cutting it and throwing it away we use it so the cost do not go up." Jim McFadzean "How many year you have in terms of the cooking experience?" 
Elliot Almendarez,
Certified Culinarian
"The cooking experience, it's over 10 years cooking experience but not with a whole group like this. I usually do it alone, with my experience here I learned to do food cost so I can deal with my business a little bit better." Jim McFadzean "You said you've been involved in cooking for the last 10 years, were you employed in the tourism industry, in the hospitality industry?" Elliot Almendarez, Certified Culinarian "I was around the field like in the same place but I was doing a lot of things." Jim Mcfadzean "So you had never worked as a cook in the industry before?" Elliot Almendarez, Certified Culinarian "I was in the kitchen, but not as a chef, they had a chef there, but eventually I started doing what the chefs were doing also. So we start helping each other and I learned to cook like that." Jim McFadzean "So being in the environment was what sparked your interest in actually becoming a chef?" Elliot Almendarez, Certified Culinarian "Yes." The training was held at the Institute for Technical and Vocational Educational Training (ITVET). The Pro Chef program marks the final year of project activities executed in Belize under the Capacity Building: Tourism Training and Certification project. CH7 NOTICE
BTB invites you to attend a two day Workshop in San Pedro at Banyan Bay. Title
is "CONTENT IS KING, HOW BELIZE CAN RULE ONLINE
TOGETHER". Fee is $125 for BTIA/BHA members, $150 for nonmembers. Please call for reservations: Karina Cunil, 227-2420 or write karina@@travelbelize.org.
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 http:///www.grandcaribebelize.com reservations@grandcaribebelize.com
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