Criminal Violence at Sea - Observations on the Threat and Appropriate Responses (From Violence at Sea, P 93-107, 1986, Brian A H Parritt, ed. - See NCJ-105206)

• NCJ Number: 105210
• Author(s): S W Haines
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Publishing SA
• Language: English
• Country: France

Annotation

The shipping industry should adopt preventive procedures against all forms of criminal violence at sea and obtain governmental support and cooperation to implement measures the industry is incompetent to supply.

Abstract

Although motives for attacks on maritime targets encompass both political and criminal orientations, the motives are not so much a concern of the shipping industry as the tactics used to attack the targets. The shipping industry must be prepared to implement security measures against any form of criminal violence at sea. The shipping industry is primarily responsible for deterring tactical deployment by criminal groups. Reactive responses are the responsibility of special combat forces trained by the police and armed forces. The arming of merchant vessels is both a deterrent and reactive capability, but such a measure must assume that armed onboard personnel will be required to repel an armed attack on the vessel. A ship's crew would not qualify to implement such a measure. The most promising approach is to deploy government sea marshals disguised as passengers on ocean liners or as crew on cargo ships. These marshals would logically be employed by the government of the ship's flag. Jurisdictional issues would need to be resolved by the governments into whose waters the ships would sail. 14 references.