A Passion for Change

SAMMAMISH, WASHINGTON -  On April 20, 2011 ICV announced that legislation had been introduced in California which would allow victims coming into a California port the opportunity to contact local law enforcement officials concerning any crime that might have occurred during their cruise.  This is in addition to the Federal Laws passed last year which started the process of regulating crime on cruise ships.  On May 3^rd, several ICV members will be in Sacremento for the first hearing of this new proposed California law known as AB 1060. 

In addition,  ICV members were in Washington D.C. from April 12^th-15^th for several important meetings.  These included meeting with the United States Coast Guard concerning the regulations for the law passed last year.  In addition, ICV members made a major 50 page presentation in the FBI headquarters to representatives of the FBI, the Executive Office of the United States Attorneys, and the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. This discussion concerned the need to follow up on crimes that occur on cruiseships.  Some of the feedback included :

From the FBI we received the following after the meeting...

Ken thank you for taking the time to educate us on ICV.  It was enlightening for everyone on my side of the table and you have our commitment moving forward.

From the Department of Justice we received the following comment...

Please be assured that we will work closely with the Coast Guard, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies to ensure the U.S. Attorneys offices have the evidence necessary to prosecute crimes occurring on cruise vessels.  Given the logistics of these cases, the initial entity that has dominion over the investigation is often the cruise line, so we will be working with the Coast Guard to ensure that the regulations promulgated as a result of the new statute will be effective to meet the needs of a criminal prosecution.

In addition to these important meetings, ICV members were visiting members of both the House and Senate in an effort to move forward with corrective changes to the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA).  These and other members have come, time and time again at their own expense (at least $1000 per person for each trip) to make these calls. 

While there were several members in Washington, I want to point out that four members of the Sanford family, who lost their mother,  were in Washington;.  They all came, (Lynda from Georgia, Richard from Texas, Terry from Utah, and Lisa from South Carolina) along with other ICV members, because of their passion for change.  The Sanford family's passion and love for their mother, makes them unable to take no for an answer when making calls.

 ICV is made up of volunteers that all have a passion for change.  Given that we are all working as volunteers, we sincerely need financial donations to carry on with the various expenses that ICV incurs.  Please take a minute to donate to this cause by clicking on the following link below.  All lobbying is done through our 501c4 corporation.  While these donations are not deductible, they provide the funds necessary to carry on our major lobbying effort around the world.  Or consider making a donation to our tax deductible corporation (501c3) which provides the funds necessary for victim support.   

www.internationalcruisevictims.org/Donations.html

              Kendall Carver, Chairman                        Jamie Barnett, President

  For more information about the International Crime Victims Association, please visit www.internationalcruisevictims.org or contact the following:

Kendall Carver
E-Mail Kcarver17@cox.net                                              Phone 602 852 5896 or 602 989 6752