The Hill reports today that the most recent edition of the Federal Register contains new rules for investigating crimes on cruise ships.

The Hill says that cruise ships face "new security protocols, such as informing passengers about crime aboard the ship, installing systems to detect if someone falls overboard, and crime scene preservation and evidence gathering training, under proposed rules from the Coast Guard."

"Congress found that serious incidents, including sexual assault and the disappearance of passengers at sea, have occurred on cruise vessel voyages, that passengers lack adequate understanding of their vulnerability to crime on board cruise vessels, that inadequate resources are available to assist cruise vessel crime victims, and that detecting and investigating cruise vessel crimes is difficult," the Coast Guard wrote.

The issues of crime on cruise ships and man overboards have been the topic of eight Congressional hearing since 2005 attended by members of the International Cruise Victims (ICV). The photo below is from the last Senate hearing before Senator Rockefeller and shows me (far right), ICV Chairman Ken Carver (right) and Laurie Dishman (far left). The cruise industry essentially boycotted the hearing.

The recent man overboard from the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas reveals that the cruise lines have a long way to go. The passenger went overboard without the cruise ship even knowing that it lost one of its guests. The vast majority of the cruise lines have developed all types of attractions and contraptions to wow the passengers but refuse to invest in state-of-the-art technologies to make cruising safer.

The public has 90 days to comment. 

Cruise Ship Crime