Cabbies, cops have eight-point plan to increase security
Panic buttons and radios may soon be in all taxis across the island as taxi operators and police fine-tune an eight-point plan to tighten security.
The panic button will be linked to both the Police High Command and the taxi association’s headquarters. The cabbies, who met with lawmen last month, will meet with them again in the first week of next month to further discuss the plan.
According to the taxi association, its board and members may have to pay for the radios and panic buttons. Preliminary estimates put the cost of the radios at $8,000 per cab; but there is no estimate, yet, for the cost of the panic buttons.
“The plan aims to reduce that number [of taxi men killed] and establish a memorandum of understanding to reduce crime, not only for taxi men but for the entire country,” said general secretary of the National Association of Taxi Operators, Egeton Newman. “We are hoping that the plan can help.”
There are already two reported cabbie deaths since the start of the year, and a third taxi operator who was wounded is in critical condition. According to the association’s figures, 45 cabbies were killed last year, up from the 33 slain in 2002.
“We have decided that it cannot continue this year,” Newman said.
Other points in the plan include incorporating the Transport Authority’s (TA) thrust to get all cabbies in uniform by April.
The national association feels this will allow for better identification. Already some 14,000 taxi operators have received uniforms in Negril, Spanish Town, Linstead and Manchester. The uniforms are colour-coded by parish.