Friday, February 28, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

CABDRIVER CONCERNS: Cabbies' safety at issue

Driver leads charge to install security cameras

Arthur McClenaghan sits in his cab Thursday. The taxicab driver is leading an effort to get security cameras installed in cabs. Photo by Gary Thompson.

John Harris was the last cabdriver murdered on the job in Nevada.

A large man who had worked most of his life as a prison guard, Harris fought his assailant but died of a bullet wound in what appeared to be a robbery near Sahara Avenue and Valley View Boulevard in 1998.

With the fifth anniversary of his death just weeks away and the identity of his killer still a mystery, Harris' son wonders if an idea his father favored would have saved his life or at least led to the capture of his killer.

"My dad was a supporter of getting security cameras in cabs before he died," said Harris' son, John Harris II. "He felt like he'd be much more safe.

"I don't know if it would have changed things, if he'd still be alive ... but at the same time, they would have had more to go on with the investigation, and we would have some closure."

Harris is lending his voice to support a grass-roots effort to have security cameras installed in Las Vegas taxicabs. Leading the push is Las Vegan Arthur McClenaghan, who has driven a cab for 11 years.

"Common sense tells you a camera is going to make a driver safer," he said. "They have cameras in convenience stores, police cars and casinos, and it makes them safer."

Several cities have recently required or authorized the use of security cameras in taxicabs, among them New York and Toronto.

It's not a new idea for cabs in Las Vegas, either. In the mid-1990s, the Nevada Taxicab Authority discussed and abandoned a similar proposal.

"The drivers and the union shot it down," recalls Joe Dahlia, the Nevada Taxicab Authority's acting administrator.

It appears there's still some resistance to the idea among drivers.

Some said they doubt cameras would improve their safety.

"They can put it in a cab, but it's not going to stop a thing," said Dan Goodwin, who has been held up twice in the 16 years he has driven a cab. "The first thing a bad guy does is throw his do-rag over it. High-tech equipment can't replace gut instincts."

In 2001, the Taxicab Authority investigated 52 robberies and 39 driver assaults. Last year, there were 76 robberies and 119 assaults.

Las Vegas taxicabs provide about 21 million trips a year.

Other drivers believe security cameras would make passengers feel like they're in an unsafe environment, an impression that could be bad for business.

"It's like the partitions (between drivers and passengers) they have in other cities," said taxicab driver Nick Vacarro. "We don't want them to feel like they're in New York City."

Passengers also may feel as though the cameras are monitoring behavior they'd rather keep private, said Ruthie Jones, vice president of the Industrial Technical Professional Employees Union, which represents cabdrivers.

"This is a tourist town and a fun town," she said. "If someone is going to be naughty, this is more than likely one of the places they feel like they can do it."

Another concern drivers have is that employers could use cameras to monitor them.

But McClenaghan said that wouldn't be an issue with the devices he would like to see used in Las Vegas.

The cameras would capture digital images of the passenger area as the cab door opens and closes and when the meter is turned on and off. The images would be stored in a small controller hidden elsewhere in the vehicle and encrypted so only authorized individuals such as law enforcement personnel could access them.

"I realize some drivers are worried about being spied on," McClenaghan said. "But it's not that type of camera."

Dahlia said the Taxicab Authority still would support equipping taxicabs with cameras.

Some cab company owners and managers said they still would favor the idea and would even foot the bill. However, they wouldn't push the issue against drivers' wishes.

"I'm prepared to buy them, but only if our drivers want it," said Brent Bell, chief operating officer of Whittlesea Blue Cab Co. "I don't want to cram anything down their throats."

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