Girl molestered on Disney dream

(- On a personal note I feel like I need to say that I haven't expressed what my opinion on this matter is at all on this thread. I've been approaching this purely from an intellectual level, not an emotional one. I am fascinated by the jurisdictional jockeying and what laws may actually apply. I have learned more than ever about what exactly my rights are when cruising and highly recommend that folks look into them on their own before setting sail. -)

I'm so happy you weighed in on this Dee, I was hoping to get your perspective.

I've spent a fair amount of time since this story broke reading the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, amongst other pieces of documentation. From the research I've done on this one, in the State of Florida charges can be brought by the prosecutor, and the FL DA says that he would have done so in this case. At one point he even gave a quote saying something along the lines of parents (in general) not being smart enough to decide when action needs to be taken. That was pretty shocking to me in comparison to the laws in my state.

So here is my question for you as someone with law enforcement experience who knows what investigation time frames can be, and as a frequent cruiser who "gets" all the commotion that goes on on board a ship that's about to pull out of port. It's purely a procedural/ timeline question, has nothing to do with the alleged molestation at all.

3:22pm - The DCL security guard began his investigation
3:57pm - He took the girl back to the elevator as investigation continued
4:48pm- He had reviewed the video, and had a dining manager identify the alleged perpetrator
5:02pm - Ship pulls out of port

That means that from the time the encounter was first reported to DCL to the time the guy was identified was about 1 hour and 25 minutes, which included interviewing the girl, visiting the elevator with her, retrieving and reviewing video. That also means that the security guard had 14 minutes after having evidence before the ship pulled out of port. Not the two hours that the news keeps saying that there was. Ships face HUGE fines for leaving port late, and the Captain (who is ultimately responsible for everything that happens onboard) at that point would have been really busy, and all ships systems would have been in full gear for departure. I don't think that this was as easy as simply picking up the phone and calling the Port Police. In addition, there were possibly four different jurisdictions at play, Florida, US, Bahamian & International Maritime - plus neither the victim nor the alleged perpetrator were U.S. Citizens, which changes things even more.

Do you think that DCL's investigation was slow? I know that a lot of times the general public thinks things should happen faster because on TV it's all done in 5 minute segments. Was, in your opinion, this prelim investigation outrageously long?

From what I can gather DCL did follow the letter of the law. The questions here are more along the lines of who is it that gets to determine what "As Soon As Possible" is? -And- Should private security be allowed to conduct a preliminary investigation before calling in state or federal agencies?

Drew, Children and Family Services gets involved in case of parental/guardian neglect/abuse allegations. Juveniles can't put a statement on file without their parent/guardians permission because they are juveniles. I don't know where you live but that's how it works here. I've been a police officer for 12 years. There are numerous cases that I have worked where a parent didn't believe a child or didn't want to believe a child and as long as they are the responsible party, they get the final say until that child turns 18. CFS can go in and do their investigations but with several hundred calls coming in and a handful of CFS advocates there are a lot of cases falling through the cracks. We (the PD) aren't even able to talk to them without a parent/guardians permission and the parents can deny CFS from speaking at length with their child, again this is especially true if the parent isn't the one accused of abusing the child. Perhaps you don't know how many cases aren't brought forth, it is frustrating however parents control the rights of their children. It's not up to the county or State unless there is a serious need for the child to be removed. I can't tell you how many kids probably shouldn't be in their homes but still are...