St. Petersburg to create a 'cab crime watch'

[Times photo | James Borchuck]

Joe Rosa, president of the Independent Taxi Co., answers questions Thursday about putting cameras into cabs in the wake of St. Petersburg's recent surge in robberies of cab drivers.

The St. Petersburg Police Department will create a "cab crime watch" to alert drivers of potentially dangerous situations, police Maj. Michael Puetz announced today after a meeting between police and cab company representatives.

If a cab dispatcher receives a call that exhibits some of the danger signs identified by police -- such as reluctance to give a name or requesting pick-up in a remote location -- he or she is asked to call the police. The department will then alert the other cab companies in St. Petersburg to the suspicious caller and check it out themselves.

The meeting is in response to a sharp increase in crimes against cab drivers in the city this year. St. Petersburg averages 17 cab robberies per year. There have already been 16 this year.

--Andrew Dunn, Times Staff Writer