Columnist Jeff German: Case of cab thief is proof of camera urgency

Friday, May 27, 2005 | 6:10 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

WEEKEND EDITION

May 28 - 30, 2005

Here's some shocking news: Cameras in cabs can solve crimes in cabs.

Ordinarily the theft of a taxicab wouldn't make headlines.

But the Checker cab stolen May 2 wasn't any cab. It was one of the vehicles the company equipped with a digital camera.

And guess what? The camera did its job. It captured the mug, many times over, of the thief who allegedly drove off with the cab after its driver had left the vehicle unattended with his keys and wallet in it.

Now Nevada Taxicab Authority investigators are hot on the trail of the suspect, James Palen, a 37-year-old drifter who is facing serious theft charges, including identity theft, for allegedly using the driver's credit card to pay for a motel room.

Investigators could hardly contain their glee last week when they put out a news release announcing that, with the identification of Palen, they have "solved the first crime committed in a camera-equipped cab."

I share their excitement. But to me it is bittersweet because I know that the industry and its regulators, particularly the inept five-member board that oversees the Taxicab Authority, are still way behind the curve in getting cameras in taxis here.

It was back in February 2004 when Taxicab Authority Administrator Yvette Moore, in the midst of a wave of violent crimes against cabbies, asked the board to approve a regulation requiring digital still cameras.

The proposal was straightforward and backed up with plenty of statistics that showed cameras can solve crimes against cabbies.

But the companies didn't buy into the program because they were too cheap to give their drivers the protection they deserve. So the companies pressured the Taxicab Authority Board into delaying its decision for months.

Finally, in October the board approved a regulation. But it was so ambiguous that it allowed companies to go beyond still cameras and install video cameras that also record sound to not only protect the drivers, but also spy on them.

Moore never envisioned that the cameras would be used as a management tool, but that's what it turned into for one of the largest companies, Whittlesea Blue Cab, which almost immediately began installing video cameras in its 386 cabs.

Civil libertarians and tourism officials voiced concern that cameras with sound also had potential to invade the privacy of passengers. Things that happen here are supposed to stay here, remember?

The sloppy regulation placed no safeguards over how the audio information would be disseminated, shared, stored and even erased.

And so an interim legislative committee rejected the regulation in January and told the Taxicab Authority Board to fix it.

Well, the board never fixed it, leaving itself powerless to lean on the companies to do the right thing.

Today, after all these months, the regulation is still in limbo. Only local conglomerate Yellow Checker Star has been installing what Moore and her investigators wanted -- still digital cameras.

Whittlesea continues to thumb its nose at those who voiced concern about cameras that record sound, and the rest of the industry (a little less than half) has done little to equip its taxis with cameras. One major company, Ace-Union, has even lobbied the Legislature to prohibit the mandatory installation of cameras.

In its waning days, the Legislature has to decide whether to affirm the interim committee's action and officially declare the regulation dead.

There's no guarantee, however, that lawmakers will kill the measure. Whittlesea lobbyists have been pushing to keep sound in the mix. So anything's possible.

But now that we have undisputed evidence that cameras can solve crimes, it would be nice if the Legislature put the do-nothing board on notice to get off its duff.