207 incidents on cruises reported to FBI

A senior FBI official said Thursday that cruise lines have reported 207 possible crimes since adopting a new, broader reporting arrangement in April meant to give a more definitive picture of crimes at sea, both in jurisdictions belonging to the FBI and in foreign waters.

The process marks the first attempt to standardize crime reporting across 24 cruise lines to gain a more complete picture of threats to passengers.

Of those, 72 were considered to be potentially serious crimes by the FBI, including 41 reports of sexual assault. It opened 18 investigations, including 13 for rape. Five of those are closed and eight are ongoing, said FBI deputy assistant director Salvador Hernandez, in congressional testimony on Wednesday.

"The truth is, only certain kinds of matters will receive investigative attention because of resources," Hernandez told a House subcommittee hearing....
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