Chairman of VSE associate members International Cruise Victims Association (ICVA) Mr. Kendall Carver received the Ronald Wilson Reagan Public Policy Award during the annual National Crime Victims’ Service Awards ceremony on Friday 7th of April in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Carver launched the International Cruise Victims Association Inc. after his daughter mysteriously vanished during an Alaskan cruise in 2004. What started as an effort to connect with other grieving families turned into a mission to force accountability and legislation on a loosely regulated industry.
“I really feel like I am getting this for all of the victims, and the families that have had this happen to them,” Carver said after a ceremony at the National Archives. “It has taken their passion to get this done worldwide.”
Kendall Carver and ICVA helped families and victims of cruise-ship crimes to publicize their stories and expose the lack of rules for reporting, investigating crimes and maintaining evidence aboard ships operating out of U.S. ports.
The ICVA’s key achievement was pushing lawmakers to approve the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009, which President Barack Obama first signed into law in 2010 and was amended last year.
The bill allowed travelers for the first time to see what crimes are being reported aboard ships, including deaths, rapes, sexual assaults, assaults, thefts, and people going overboard
