FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 14, 2000
| Contact: | Sunny Mindel/Curt Ritter 212-788-2958 |
| Bernadette O'Leary (212) 312-3523 (EDC) |
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today announced that as part of the City's efforts to improve safety and service among its fleets of taxicabs and for-hire vehicles, the City is creating a $5 million program to provide relief to the owners of independently-owned and operated livery cars and medallion taxicabs for the installation of partitions or digital security cameras. The program will be administered on behalf of the City by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) in conjunction with the New York City Police Department.
"New York City's independently-owned and operated livery cars and medallion taxicabs provide an invaluable service to our residents and visitors," said Mayor Giuliani. "I have asked TLC Chairperson Diane McGrath-McKechnie and Police Commissioner Howard Safir to work over the weekend with representatives of the New York State Federation of Taxi drivers and other representative organizations to come up with specific recommendations to implement this program. The safety of these drivers is very important to the City, and this program will provide meaningful relief for the installation of partitions and in-vehicle digital security cameras."
The bullet-resistant partition is a proven deterrent to crime that has been mandated for all fleet-operated, multi-shifted medallion taxicabs with more than one driver, as well as for all fleet-operated and multi-driver livery vehicles. The in-vehicle digital security camera is a state-of-the-art device that captures a succession of digital still images of a vehicle's interior, and stores it in a secured housing unit. The camera further offers drivers the ability, if necessary, to initiate a series of digitally captured still images that will be "frozen" in the unit, and cannot be overwritten. Having successfully administered an experimental pilot program, the Taxi and Limousine Commission approved the in-vehicle digital security camera in February 2000 as an alternative to the partition in livery vehicles for which it is mandatory.
Funding for this program will be provided through the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
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