Columnist Jeff German: Taxi board gives drivers a bad ride

Friday, March 12, 2004 | 10:45 a.m.

As serial robbers go, this guy has been pretty consistent.

Since Nov. 11, he has held up eight taxicab drivers, between 7:15 p.m. and 1:15 a.m., usually in the middle of the week.

Wearing dark, baggy clothing, he gets into a cab at a hotel on the Strip, carries on a polite conversation and takes the driver to a quiet neighborhood near UNLV, where he pulls out an Uzi-type weapon and instructs the driver to "give me all of your money."

Then he runs away in the dark of night, with as much as $300 in stolen cash, leaving behind a terrified cabbie.

He has been described in crime reports as a black male with short hair, in his 20s, no taller than 6 feet and having a medium build.

And he's still at large.

But the good news is he hasn't struck since authorities released a Feb. 17 photo of him taken from video surveillance cameras at the Las Vegas Hilton, where he jumped into a cab to pull off his last robbery. The photo was made public on Feb. 19.

"My guess is that he went underground," says Yvette Moore, the administrator of the state Taxicab Authority, which is investigating these crimes with the help of Metro Police.

That's actually more than a guess, because Moore knows that once the photo of this serial robber was plastered on television, in all likelihood it deterred him from striking again -- at least for the time being.

It is the clearest example yet of the value of placing digital still cameras in taxicabs -- an issue the Taxicab Authority has been studying for a year.

And it underscores the failings of Moore's bosses, the do-nothing Taxicab Authority Board, which, after all this time, still doesn't get the picture.

Last month, even though Moore and her investigators, Metro Police, the DA's office and the drivers all endorsed the idea, the five-member board, led by its chairwoman, Lia Roberts, refused to force the taxi companies to install cameras.

Instead, the board called for a year of testing and another study that will point out the obvious -- that cameras are needed to protect cabbies.

The board meets Tuesday to waste more taxpayer dollars discussing the guidelines for the study.

To continue delaying this issue not only makes no sense, but it sends a message to the drivers, these colorful ambassadors of tourism, that their well-being isn't a priority of the board.

If only the board could see that making the industry safe is more important than sucking up to the tightwad taxi companies, which are reluctant to pay for the cameras.

In the case of the serial robber, authorities weren't able to get a clear glimpse of the suspect from hotel surveillance cameras until the Hilton heist three weeks ago. It isn't the best quality photo, but it's the best evidence investigators have uncovered.

Imagine how much better the evidence would have been if the photo was taken three feet away inside a taxicab. Then imagine if that photo was taken after the first robbery in November instead of the last one.

Had authorities obtained a picture of the suspect five months ago, there's a good chance we wouldn't be talking about a serial robber today. He probably would be behind bars.

But he's still out there, and every day he remains at large, the Taxicab Authority Board should feel ashamed for putting off its decision to put cameras in cabs.