A
Cruise Junkie dot Com Editorial (2 April 2007)
Are
you safer today on a cruise ship than
in 1999?
The answer is a
resounding
no ..... Let’s look at the numbers.
On July 27, 1999,
the International
Council of Cruise Lines issued the
following statement: A passenger is
safer on a cruise ship than
in urban or rural America. A review of FBI
annual crime statistics reveals that
the number of
reported shoreside aggravated sexual
assaults occurring in urban or rural
communities is at least 20 to 50 times greater than the total number of
all
reported shipboard assaults of any
type.
On
March 7, 2006, a cruise
industry expert tetstified before Congress that "the rate of sexual
assault on cruise lines is -- at worst -- half the U.S. rate of
forcible rape." He provided figures indicating the rate of
sexual
assault on cruise ships to be 17.6 per 100,000 as compared to a U.S.
rate of 32.2 per 100,000.
On
surface, the statement in
2006 is encouraging, but looking a bit more closely, the industry's own
claims say that the rate of sexual
assaul has increased significantly
in just 6 years -- from a 20 to 50 times greater risk of sexual
assault on land to a risk factor of less than twice as likely on land.
That suggests that the rate of sexual
assaults on cruise ships increased 10 to 25 fold
in just 6 years. And note that the figure for 1999 on
cruise
ships included shipboard assaults of any type as compared to only
sexual assaults on land.
On March
27, 2007, Professor
Ross Klein testified before Congress, using the industry's own numbers
(as disclosed in discovery as part of a civil case), that one is as
much as 50 percent more likely to be sexually assaulted on a cruise
ship than on land; if we add sexual battery to the equation, then one
is as much as twice as likely. These numbers, compared to
industry claims, suggest there has been as much as a
10,000 percent
increase (100 fold) in the rate of sexual assaults on cruise ships in
eight years. Either the
industry lied in 1999 and lied
again in
2006, or the problem of sexual assault is out of control.
But the industry says they report all
crimes to U.S. authorities
Congressional hearings on March 27, 2007 were
dominated by a cruise industry announcement that the industry had
entered into an agreement with the FBI and U.S. Coast Guard to report
all crimes against U.S. citizens (not including nationals of any other
country) on cruise ships to U.S. authorities. The news media
jumped on this
statement
with reports suggesting that the industry had made a
positive step to deal with crime and sexual assaults. To the
naive and to the cruise apologist, it appeared that the media reports
were accurate.
It is
illuminating to take the agreement announced the
morning
Congressional hearings convened (obviously used to manipulate public
opinion) and compare it to an Open Letter From
Senior
Executives of the
International Council of Cuise Lines: Cruise
Industyry Zero Tolerance Policy for
Crimes Committee Onboard Ships. In that
letter, the
incustry states:
This policy establishes a single
industry standard that requires
allegations of onboard crime be reported to the appropriate law
enforcement authorities which, for vessels calling on U.S. ports or
crime involving U.S. citizens, would include the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. In summary, our companies, and our industry as a
whole, have
zero tolerance for crimes committed on our vessels. If crimes do occur,
the appropriate law enforcement authorities will be called in to
investigate and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. We will
continue to cooperate with the authorities to ensure that perpetrators
of crime are brought to justice.
To the half-intelligent
observer, it is hard to understand how this commitment made in 1999 is
different from the announcement March 27, 2007. A letter from
the FBI to the cruise industry states:
Discussion
over the past several months between the
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), has yielded
proposed
procedures relating to the reporting of serious violations of laws
committed aboard cruise ships and FBI response to such
violations. It is understood that these reports contain
only allegations of criminal wrongdoing.
So
why all the media hoopla? What is new in this commitment.
To a discerning eye, the only new element is that the FBI will now keep
a data set on crimes aboard cruise ships (it is amazing that they
haven't been doing this since 1999 when the industry began reporting
all crimes aboard ships -- assuming the industry did as it had
promised), but this
data will NOT be accessible to
the general public or to
media.
So what have
we gained?
In
the current context, we will continue to be told by the industry how
safe one is on a cruise ship, but the crimes will continue and the
public will remain in the dark. It is time for legislated action,
given the cruise industry's record as convicted felons.
It is time for the cruise industry's misrepresentation of fact, and
their assumption that the American public will believe whatever they
are told, to be confronted and called for what it is ... an
effort to silence victims of the most horrendous crime (sexual assault)
that can be committed against a woman or child.
NOTE: Alternative link for ICCL
documents
FROM
TESTIMONY
OF LORIE DISHMAN -- Raped by a
security guard on Royal Caribbean
International's Vision of the Seas
This
is what she heard officially from RCI, after returning home following
the rape:
