.1 All relevant facts should be recorded in a
systematic way. Most law enforcement agencies use multi-purpose crime
reporting forms, but officers dealing with offences at sea should
be sure to include the additional information which may subsequently
prove essential in legal proceedings in these cases, e.g., weather,
sea state, position, direction of travel and speed of the ship, a
detailed description of the ship and so forth.
.2 Photographs and videotapes taken of and on
a ship will help investigators and witnesses to explain subsequently
what happened.
.3 Investigators should bear in mind that the
laws governing offences committed at sea allow, in some circumstances,
for legal proceedings in countries other than those where the investigators
are based. Investigations should therefore be sufficiently comprehensive
and detailed to make it possible to explain what happened to courts
other than the investigators’ own, possibly several years after
the offences have been committed. The modus operandi of
investigators should be described in the investigation report.