Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Camera tests coming to some taxicabs

Valley's largest cab company to use cameras that also record sounds

"Taxicab Confessions" it's not, but some Las Vegas Valley passengers can expect to be filmed in the coming months as part of taxicab surveillance system test runs.

The valley's largest cab company, Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation, plans to install an undetermined number of cameras in some of its cabs as soon as late June, operations director Bill Shranko told the Taxicab Authority on Tuesday.

The company plans to test video cameras that also record sounds inside the cabs, while some other area cab firms plan to install different types of cameras for testing.

"We're not going to test anything else," Shranko said of the video cameras. "We've reached the point where the drivers feel the cameras are the best safeguard."

The number of cabs to be outfitted with cameras is expected to be a small fraction of Yellow-Checker-Star's 500-cab fleet.

Whittlesea Bell Cab Co. plans to install digital video recorders in six cabs by mid-June.

"The drivers are excited about this," said general manager Cheryl Knapp. "They're really not viewing this as the Big Brother thing."

A pair of other companies said they also would test as many as five cameras each later this year.

In a related test of safety equipment, Desert Cab said it would test partitions between driver and passenger areas of five cabs starting in July.

None of the tests planned involves digital still cameras which do not record sounds, which were preferred by taxi drivers polled earlier this year.

A plan to mandate the installation of such cameras was rejected by the authority's board in February, which opted for further testing and research. That move has divided pro-camera drivers and skeptical owners.

The testing period was left open-ended. That frustrated camera proponents who want the board to act decisively on permanently installing cameras in all cabs as soon as possible.

"How long are we going do be at it?" asked Craig Harris, a steward with the Industrial Technical Professional Employees union, which represents cab drivers in the valley. "Crime will not stop. Crime continues on."

In addition to the test run of cameras, the director of UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research will study the pros and cons of camera use in taxis.

Dr. Keith Schwer's work is being underwritten by the cab industry but is being done under the oversight of the authority. A report could be completed as soon as September.