Columnist Jeff German: Cab owners don’t get the picture

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

Study -- it's the magic word every public agency utters when it wants to avoid making a tough decision.

On Tuesday the state Taxicab Authority Board finally had a chance to improve the safety of 4,800 Las Vegas cabbies by approving a regulation ordering the installation of digital still cameras in all taxis.

But the five-member board let it itself be bullied by cab company owners reluctant to go along with the installation and opted to order another study of an issue its staff has been studying for the past year.

The new study will be conducted by UNLV and will coincide with something else the influential owners pushed for on Tuesday -- testing in cabs of various still cameras over the next year.

By the time the results of the study and testing are completed and another round of public hearings is held, we may not see cameras in cabs here for another two years or more.

And one more thing: The Taxicab Authority has no money to pay for the study, so it will be funded by none other than the cab companies, which makes me wonder whether we'll ever see cameras here.

Installing still cameras was the only subject of Tuesday's six-hour hearing, but the owners put on a full-court press for everything but the cameras. Some even said they favored video cameras, so they could monitor the activities of the drivers, as well.

Yellow Checker Star Cab operator Milton Schwartz had one of his people arguing for safes in cabs as a deterrent to would-be robbers. Whittlesea Blue Cab President Brent Bell and Lucky Cab owner Jason Awad suggested it was time to reconsider bulletproof shields between the drivers and passengers. Ace Cab owner Charlie Frias sent his representatives to discuss the merits of a global positioning, or satellite monitoring, system.

Taxicab Authority investigators, on the other hand, presented plenty of evidence that cameras have reduced crimes against cabbies in other cities. And they talked about how valuable cameras have become in catching criminals.

The regulation, which was the result of a year of workshops conducted by the Taxicab Authority, also was enthusiastically endorsed by cabbies and officials with Metro Police and the Clark County district attorney's office.

With a serial robber of cabdrivers on the loose and the killers in the last four cabbie slayings still at large, it should have been a no-brainer for the Taxicab Authority's board to approve the regulation and get those cameras in action.

But the owners did a good job of clouding the issue. For every statistic authority investigators presented showing the need for cameras, the owners came back with statistics pointing out that cameras may not be the answer.

And so now it's back to the drawing board for the Taxicab Authority Board and more months of studying, testing, debating and polling.

Arthur McClenaghan, one of the drivers leading the charge for cameras, couldn't contain his anger after the hearing.

"Everybody here was in favor of cameras except the owners," he said. "The next time a driver dies, the blood will be on their hands."