NMI Crime Stoppers

Students and community members alike became more involved in deterring crime last month by participating in the first Crime Stoppers Create-A-Commercial Contest. Participants entered in either the high school category or the open category-but the rules were the same. They had to include basic information about Crime Stoppers in original commercials that had to be less than 30 seconds.

There were a total of 54 participants. Thirteen commercials were submitted by 11 high school teams and two “open” teams. Five teams were awarded for their efforts last Friday.

The first place winner in the high school category was the Marianas High School team of Jessie Savellano, Jessica Estrada, Kevin Jardinero, Justis Tenorio, and Kevin Razon. They were awarded five Flip cameras and five Smile Miles cards.

The second place winner was the Saipan Southern High School team of Jonah Mendiola, Raymark Denora, Sean Ecal, Bryl Algre, Ted Villanueva, Derick Dela Cruz, and Jack Kileleman. They won two Docomo phones and five Smile Miles cards.

The third place winners, also from SSHS, were Jesse Palacios, Razel Buniag, Jan Alcantara, Dayanara Flores, Cyrene Bulawan, Royze Banados. They brought home three Docomo chairs and umbrellas, three Wave Jungles passes, six MegaZone certificates, and four Hollywood Theaters certificates.

In the “open” category Gester Garcia and Oliver Patris took first place and won two Flip cameras and $200 prize money. CNMI Crime Stoppers board member Jim Arenovski said their commercial is of such high quality that it has been recommended for inclusion in the Crime Stoppers international competition.

Second place finisher Emman Parian was off-island when the prizes were distributed but upon his return will receive four MegaZone gift certificates, two Hollywood Theaters certificates, and two Wave Jungle passes.

Jonah Mendiola, one of the second place winner in the high school division, said, “We didn't know that we could make it this far. We got caught up with so many things but we got everything done.”

All prizes were donated by Docomo Pacific, MegaZone, Hollywood Theaters, Mobil, and Saipan World Resort.

“We all worked the idea together and then our police officer liaison Jason Tarkong, he would go to the high schools and present the Crime Stoppers message and mission and at the same promoted this to the high school students, and so we promoted this contest in conjunction with something that we were already doing, which was educating the students of the CNMI about Crime Stoppers,” said Christina Smith, a Crime Stoppers board member.

“Crime Stoppers is in the CNMI and we wanted to get the word out to as many people as possible. And we just felt that teenagers.have the creativity, they know what's happening in the community and so we went to them and asked them if they could create commercials,” she added.

The Northern Mariana Islands Crime Stoppers board members judged the videos based on originality, creativity, and overall appeal and decided on the competition winners. They plan to make this an annual event. (Dencio Manglona