Update on Belize Death of Policeman - how to prevent accidents?

Belize barrier reef.

Belize zoo.

Belize - where is it?

Central America.

Belize is at the top of central America, north end, north-east, just south of Mexico. At the opposite end to the South is Panama with the Panama Canal 

What's to see in Belize? Reefs, wildlife, or animals and birds in the zoo. Water sports such as snorkelling, seeing waterfalls and caves, tubing on water through caves. Culture? The history museums, an art gallery, Mayan pyramids, Mayan people. Speak English to most people, Spanish to many, and maybe learn a little Mayan.

What's the 2021 story that brought Bwlize into the news? The death of a policeman, shot with his own gun, whilst on a pier late at night with a good friend, a well-off lady. She and her husband owned the nearby hotel on the island. The death occurred not on the mainland which has Belize city on the coast, and the capital inland, but on one of the islands, on Ambergris Caye (Caye means island).

What happened?

According to the newspapers reports, a policeman was shot dead, with his own gun, apparently by his good friend. The defence claim it was an accident.  I find that account convincing. But was it a preventable accident? Here's my take on it.

I look at this story. I cannot yet know all the facts for certain. I cannot change the past. I cannot change anybody else's behaviour. Especially not in a country far away.

But I might learn some lessons for myself. I shall share them. Make the rules when you are safe and sober, to guide you when you are unsafe or not sober.

How can you prevent this happening to you or anybody you know, whether you are on holiday or living as an expat or in your home? 

How to avoid attack by gangs or loners. Stick to the safe tourist areas. Go out at night to well lit places with people about, having checked the safe areas. Stick to groups. Carry ID and a little money but not anything which would make you an obvious target. Assess every location and event for safety and stay alert.

But what if your friends have guns, or you have one?

If somebody is having relationship issues, they should not have a gun. What if they need it for self-defense? 

Likely you would have the gun grabbed by your attacker. Or you kill them, upset two families, because you would spend a long time jailed awaiting trial and then spend the rest of your life in gaol. 

Consider alternatives, such as going away, on holiday, emigrating, going into hiding. Wearing body armour. 

As the Chinese saying goes, before taking revenge, dig two graves.

1 If somebody is driving erratically, stop them from driving. Remove any weapons.

2 Do not play with guns when the gun owner or you are drunk.

3 Stick to curfews. 

Make your own curfew. If somebody calls you after midnight or near midnight, tell them you are tired and need your sleep. Arrange to see them next day in daylight hours.

4 Follow army systems. Never unload or load or point a gun when somebody is standing in front of you. They should always be beside you and the gun should point forward and away from any human or anything which could make a bullet ricochet. 

5 Only practise with guns in practise places where guns are fixed pointing away at  non-human targets.

6 Always check the number of bullets.

7 Check with the other person whether a gun is or is not loaded. 

8 If you are an amateur, do not struggle with a loaded or being loaded gun. Hand it to the owner and let them point it away from you and sort out the problem.

Stay safe. Happy Holidays.

 Useful Website

Grand Colony Hotel

https://www.facebook.com/GrandColony/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9655731/Socialite-Jasmine-Hartins-dramatic-account-really-happened-moonlit-pier-Belize.html

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places,  landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.

Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.

About the Author Angela Lansbury

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President. VPPR

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

Past meetings have included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on bha.learncool.sg . 

Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meeting is  the third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  Inauguration of the new committee by the incoming Director of S, plus a lively speech on teamwork.

 

Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See next post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Writers' Exciting Lives - Plots, Causes, Romance and Real Life Deaths

Who said you learn more by listening than by talking? Was it Einstein?

At Writer's Holiday in Wales every writer had a story to tell, about the delights - and horrors - of their own life.

I don't have permission to tell their stories, so I shall give them made up names.

One author, who I have known many years, 'Penny', told me about her success with a book. Before I had time to continue, congratulating her, feeling envious, or getting useful tips on marketing, at a later meal she told me she had not written much recently because her son had died. He was born diabetic and 'didn't look after himself'. He died after he had both legs amputated.

She heard that he had died from another member of the family. He had not been speaking to her (his mother) nor most members of the family.

She only found out after he died the cause of his grievance against her. He was angry that a grandchild was not named after him with a family name as a first name. Like the royal family's Charles, (King Charles 1, and his successor Charles II, not to mention Henry VIII, and seven other kings confusingly called Henry).

The son who died had also fallen out with several former friends. I wondered whether the illness had made him morose and angry.

Although they were not on speaking terms, it was a shock. 'Penny' said, "I was upset for several months. I've still not recovered. That's why I haven't been writing. But I come to Writers' Holiday to see all my friends."

As a writer, and as a human being, I am always looking for causes and prevention of deaths and mishaps. The classic definition of a plot is that one event causes another.

You can write your life story as a series of events. I tried this. My story did not hang together. My late father said, "It's not a novel or a story. The incidents don't hang together."

To keep the reader interested, they want to know how the hero or heroine raches their goal. A single, over-riding goal. The goal could be a single person seeking a happy marriage. (As for romance, the classics are usually about poverty-stricken and abused singles, such as Cinder-ella finding their rich and loving Prince Charming.)

Dealing With Drama

Jane Austen used humour. 

Charlotte Bronte used Drama.

Both Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte pioneered the feisty heroine who won't settle for second best, in a first marriage. Even if she is the second girlfriend. In Daphne Du Maurier's novel, Rebecca, the heroine is a shy second wife, leaving the reader wondering if the husband has killed wife number one.

The modern fairy tale is about the abused, divorced wife. To make a readable book, you need a hero or a heroine with an aim, setbacks, enemies, self-sabotage, thwarting people or events, redoubled efforts, determination to succeed, possibly a mentor or faithful friend and supporter, final triumph.

With authors this pattern is often evident in their writing career, which has its ups and downs. Some authors, would be novelists, start with poetry, because you can focus on one incident, present a completed work to proclaim or have an audience or a critique. They say they are trying to sort out their life into a readable book. Too many incidents. Too many other things to do, looking after children, sick children, grandchildren, sick grandchildren.  Their own health problems and setbacks.

I have met authors who asked me to refrain from telling their stories because they wanted to write their own book and if I wrote the story, even briefly, it would be a spoiler for their incidents and their surprise ending or endings.

Ghost Writer Or Editor
Another lady asked me, "Do you edit?" She meant, would I edit her book, maybe not completely ghost-write from a recording, or series of recordings.

Editing is extremely time consuming. As a teacher, a home tutor, I would spend at least half an hour, even up to an hour with an O level or A level pupil on one A4 page of writing.

Every sentence can be full of ambiguities. Is 'it' referring to the subject of the sentence or the object? Or a floating it or there.  For example, 'It was lucky he had a gun.' it does not refer to the gun in the previous sentence. Is 'he' referring to the dead victim or the policeman?

For a happy end story, see my previous post.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author of Quick Quotations.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

When Lost - Is It Safe To Ask The Way?

Problem
You are lost. You stop to ask the way. The householder in Texas has a gun and may shoot you dead.

Answers
What can be done to prevent this ever happening again? Something similar happened again, at least twice.

PLANNING - THE DESTINATION
Have you host's address and put it in your car or phone satnav. Check it on streetview so you do not go to the wrong house.

Wrong Party
It's easy to go to the wrong house with Xmas decorations, or Halloween decorations.  Party balloons can also be confusing.

When my son was a child, he had a birthday party. I invited my pupil's daughter. The aunt of my Japanese pupil's daughter brought her to the house.

Seeing balloons at a house two doors away, she left the child there. Embarrassment all round. The hosts did not know the little girl. She did not know the birthday girl.

The birthday gift was unwrapped by the little birthday girl. It was a gift suitable for a little boy.

Meanwhile, I was disappointed. I thought my guest thought our party was unimportant and did not bother to turn up.

At the end of the party, the aunt had arrived, discovered her mistake, and had the embarrassment of retrieving the unsuitable gift. The embarrassed aunt found the sad little girl who had sat for two hours at the wrong party with strangers, who spoke no Japnese.

Auntie arrived at my house. She explained, with an apology, why they were arriving after the event.. She gave me the gift, so sorry, with the wrapping torn off. Luckily the little girl had received a drink and a piece of cake at the other house. But she had been too shy and demoralised to eat much. I gave a leaving party bag and cake to the aunty. I suspect that four families are still telling this story, mine, the family with the birthday girl, The Japanese mother, her sister.

What To Do When Lost
Thank goodness we now have satnav in phones. If we remember to use it. If our phone's battery dose not die by the evening.

When lost, phone a friend.

Ask for the way in a public place such as a pub or petrol station, not a private residence.

But it's when you get near, and there are no house numbers, you won't drive miles back to a petroll station. You couldn't the numbers. Is this one 4a? Have they dropped the number 13?

Stand still, at a respectful distance.

Don't run towards a doorway, a window or a person.

Smile and bow or wave to show good intent, and say, Excuse me and I'm sorry to trouble you or hold up a sign saying Lost - please help, or even a sign saying looking for, and the actual address.

Some places in the USA have laws banning fences and gates. They want the lawn look.

SIGNS
If possible, install a sign for visitors such as:
Entrance at front.
We do not answer the door to strangers.
Please speak into intercom.
You are on videocam surveyed at another address.

FOOD & WATER
Carry water and food.

Don't ask others for food.

Don't open the door to others asking for water.
A lady in the UK was battered to death by a man who asked her for a glass of water as a ploy. She could have placed it on a distant windowsill and told him to get it and called a neighbour, or told him the location of the nearest supermarket, or directed him to an outside tap. Or told him to go to another house which had lots of people around standing outside.

She could have told him to wait at the end of the drive and said she'd put the water on the doorstep, and come and collect it. But what if there were two of them?

OPENING DOORS
Before opening the door to a stranger, work out who they are and what they want.

If anybody comes to your door, and you are suspicious, don't open the door and face them and expose the door to being pushed. Call the neighbour or the cops to come up behind the intruder and ask them what they want.

COSTUMES & MASKS
Do not walk the streets dressed in a Halloween costume, such as a skeleton, mask and fake gun, and then walk up to a stranger's door.

Any other suggestions? Please leave a message.

Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Yoshihiro_Hattori
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/10/pensioner-died-violent-burglary-may-have-offered-killer-glass/

SAFETY ADVICE
From the UK government
gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
From the US government
travel.stategov/content/travel
https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.