The cruise safety bill signed last week by President Obama requires cruise lines to report serious crimes such as deaths, missing persons, sexual attacks and assaults to the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard. But if the legislation is going to bring the justice that safety advocates are pursuing, law enforcement authorities will need to change their ways.
Since 2007, cruise lines that use U.S. ports have agreed to voluntarily report serious crimes, but law enforcement agencies rarely investigated the reports, according to an investigation by the South Florida paper The Sun-Sentinel.
The paper analyzed 363 incidents reported to the FBI from December 2007 through October 2008, and found that the FBI seldom launched full-fledged investigations, claiming that alleged crimes were not serious enough, there wasn’t enough evidence, or that the agency was not authorized to act.
In at least 84 of the cases, cruise lines and captains dealt with complaints and allegations without outside help, and the most serious punishments involved leaving offenders at the next port or taking away alcohol privileges. The newspaper identified 17 arrests that resulted from the 363 incidents.
Likewise, Florida police agencies, which have the authority to investigate crimes at sea, did so infrequently, saying that crimes had occurred outside of their jurisdiction, or that victims were uncooperative.
Investigators face extra challenges in dealing with crime on cruise ships. The ships' security officers lack the authority to make arrests, and collecting evidence can be difficult, in part because of the time that passes before investigators can board the vessel.
"We have issues because we're [dealing with] a floating crime scene," David Nunez, FBI Miami special agent for maritime cases, told The Sun-Sentinel.
