WASHINGTON — Critics of the cruise industry urged Congress last week to pass laws to ensure passengers are safe from crimes committed by ship employees, but companies argued rapes, assaults and people falling overboard are rare occurrences the industry is tackling on its own.

Critics included Laurie Dishman, who's suing Royal Caribbean Cruises, alleging a former employee raped her while she was on a Mexico cruise in February 2006. Federal prosecutors dropped the criminal case, citing a lack of evidence.

Dishman, 36, of Sacramento, Calif., said cruise employees tampered with the crime scene, downplayed her allegations, failed to quickly notify authorities and refused to provide medical and legal documents.

"This cruise industry cannot be trusted," she tearfully testified before a House maritime transportation subcommittee. "Not only was I raped, (I had) no sense of where to go, what to do."

Representatives from the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard said the difficulty in prosecuting crimes in international waters is that U.S. laws apply only within 12 miles of U.S. shores. Crimes committed outside territorial waters often fall under the jurisdiction of foreign countries with differing legal systems.

Of the 200 cruise ships operating worldwide, three sail under the U.S. flag. Companies registered in foreign nations such as Liberia own the rest.

Ross Klein, a Canadian professor who studies the cruise industry, said companies are more interested in preventing bad publicity and less interested in keeping passengers safe.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, said cruise companies "generally" have a safe record.

"Generally, a safe record is not good enough," Poe said. "One victim is one victim too many."

Cruise company executives, who stressed passenger safety is their top priority, said the industry has strong security procedures such as requiring every employee on ships doing business in the United States to undergo federal background checks. Crewmembers receive security training endorsed by the FBI and Coast Guard, they said.

Gary Bald, who handles security for Royal Caribbean Cruises, said the company failed in some ways to help Dishman. He outlined a number of other steps the company is taking, such as spending $25 million on new surveillance cameras and working with victims groups to improve sensitivity training for ship personnel.

"We're not perfect, although we're striving to be," Bald said.