CRIME ON THE HIGH SEAS
Cruises Not a Vacation from Vigilance
05/22/06
Talk
of piracy and crime on the high seas might
conjure images of parchment maps, buried treasure,
and scurrilous one-eyed swashbucklers. But
for victimized cruise ship vacationers or
ship captains relieved of their cargo by thieves,
the issues are frighteningly real.
There
were 39 cases of crimes on the high seas last
year involving U.S. citizens, including sexual
and physical assaults, death, drug smuggling,
theft, and "vessel conversion"—a
legal reference to the November grenade attack
and hijack attempt on a cruise liner off the
coast of Somalia. From Fiscal Year 2000 to
mid-2005, the FBI opened 305 criminal cases,
more than half of them assaults.
While
the numbers might seem small—a fraction
of the 10 million Americans traveling this
year on vessels in international waters—they
are significant reminders of the risks on
the open water. Cruise ship crimes accounted
for 32 of the reported incidents in 2005.
"If
you are going to go on a cruise, you want
to treat it like you are going to a small
city," says David Hearn, a supervisory
special agent in the FBI's Indian Country/Special
Jurisdiction Unit, which coordinates with
field offices and the FBI's legal attachés
overseas to investigate crimes on the high
seas. "You don't know the people on a
cruise ship. You don't know who's in the cabin
next to you. Crime doesn't stop just because
you are on a boat."
When
a crime does occur at sea, several factors
determine whether the U.S. has legal jurisdiction.
A complicated weave of international law applies,
but as a rule, the FBI leads investigations
of the following scenarios:
When
a crime occurs outside U.S. jurisdiction,
FBI legal attachés work with local
officials and the authorities conducting the
investigations. Most countries welcome FBI
assistance in collecting evidence, and in
some cases they invite our agents and analysts
to play a larger role.
Piracy—boarding
ships and robbing them—occurs less frequently
than traditional crimes. Just four of the
FBI cases in 2005 pertained to commercial
vessels.
On
cruises, meanwhile, their transient nature
can make investigations difficult. When possible,
agents meet vessels before docking to conduct
interviews. In some cases—if witnesses
have dispersed, too much time has elapsed,
or alcohol is involved—cases are difficult
to prosecute.
Agent
Hearn's advice to passengers: "Watch
what you are doing and keep your wits about
you. It seems like an enclosed environment.
That gives people a false sense of security.
You should have fun, but act responsibly and
know what your kids are doing at all times.
And if you see suspicious activity or a crime
has occurred, contact the ship's personnel
immediately."
Link:
Testimony
on Criminal Threats to Americans on High Seas
