From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Cruise Vessels Security and Safety Concerns Description: Audio interview by GAO staff with Steve Caldwell, Director, Homeland Security and Justice Related GAO Work: GAO-14-43: Cruise Vessels: Most Required Security and Safety Measures Have Been Implemented, but Concerns Remain About Crime Reporting Released: January 2014 [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's January 2014. Almost 11 million North American passengers took cruises in 2011, often embarking and disembarking at U.S. ports. In January 2012, the cruise vessel Costa Concordia grounded off the coast of Italy, resulting in 32 deaths and raising questions about passenger safety and security. A team led by Steve Caldwell, a director in GAO's Homeland Security and Justice team, recently examined cruise vessel safety and security concerns. GAO's Sarah Kaczmarek sat down with Steve to talk about what they found. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] What are the safety and security requirements in place now for cruise vessels? [Steve Caldwell:] Well the Cruise Ship Security and Safety Act, the 2010, put a number of requirements in place. As you may remember, during that time period before this was done there were several high-profile crimes on cruise ships, including sexual assaults, even a few cases where people went missing and were presumed to have gone overboard. So when the law passed, it actually put some new requirements in place. These included a higher railing on the ship to prevent people from going overboard, security peepholes in cabin doors so people can see who's outside their cabin, and also video recording of public areas so if there is a crime or some kind of other inappropriate activity, it could be captured as evidence, if necessary. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] And how's the Federal Government and the industry doing with these new requirements? [Steve Caldwell:] A lot of those requirements are in place and being implemented. Of the 15 requirements in the Act, 11 of those have been implemented. But it is important to note that there are 4 requirements that have not been completed yet. I think I'll highlight 2 of those, one is man overboard technology, which would automatically alert the crew of the ship if someone does fall overboard, that one's not in place. As well as detailed instructions as to what kind of video surveillance system should, should be on board a ship, such as what areas should they cover, and how closely should they be monitored? [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Those sound like two really critical areas that are still going to be addressed. Let me ask you, is the government putting out any data on cruise vessel crime rates? [Steve Caldwell:] Yes. Federal government does report on cruise ship crime. The cruise lines are required to report alleged crimes to the FBI. FBI will then either investigate those or not as appropriate, and then when it closes an investigation, that information is what is reported and it's actually reported on the Coast Guard website that, that the public can access. But as the report notes, there are some limitations to the reported data on crime in terms of its completeness, not all allegations are reported, in terms of its timeliness, cases sometimes are reported months or years after they, the event actually occurred. And in terms of relevance, there's no context such as a crime rate, so, currently there are efforts by both the cruise lines and Congress to improve the crime rate--these improvements are new or in process, so it was too early for GAO to assess their long-term impact. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Now it's been almost 2 years since the Costa Concordia accident. What's been done to improve passenger safety? [Steve Caldwell:] Well as you noted, the Costa Concordia accident killed 32 people when it was grounded on the Italian island of Giglio, and since that accident, the Italian government conducted a major investigation, the U.S. government was also involved, as well as others, and in addition, the cruise line did its own internal task force to come up with new safety measures and they have actually agreed to implement several of those. Some examples of those, and maybe one of the most important, is for passengers to do their evacuation drills, before the ship actually departs, because that had not been a requirement previously. Other things include additional life jackets that would be stored in public spaces so people would not have to go back to their cabins to get their life vest if something happened suddenly. Periodic drills to ensure that the life boats are able to be lowered appropriately, and several other, there were 10 points there. It is important to note at this point, though, that these are all be done voluntarily. The Coast Guard, so far, has not adopted any new regulations related to safety after the Costa Concordia. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Well then, for taxpayers or somebody considering going on a cruise, what's the bottom line here? [Steve Caldwell:] Well in terms of crimes on ship, the Act did require the reporting of certain crimes for the very first time, and it made victim information and services more available to passengers. And, in fact, there's been an ongoing debate about some of the limitations of the crime data that is reported, and now some cruise lines are voluntarily publishing more timely and more complete crime information. In terms of passenger safety, the major cruise lines have adopted seven new safety measures since the Costa Concordia accident. Some of these will be quite apparent to passengers, such as the pre-departure evacuation drills, and other measures will not be so apparent, such as increased emergency training for the crews, and the drills that are done for lifeboats periodically. [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] To learn more visit GAO.gov and be sure to tune in to the next episode of GAO's Watchdog Report for more from the Congressional Watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office.