Manchester’s taxisafe scheme has helped to secure a prosecution against a 17-year-old male who appeared in the Crown Court following a robbery against a licensed private hire driver in the city.
The 17 year old appeared in court on 27 January 2005 for sentencing following a guilty plea to robbery on 9 November 2004. The court sentenced him to three years imprisonment.
The taxisafe pilot scheme, funded by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, has been running since August 2004 when 19 cameras were installed into both private hire and hackney carriage taxis.
The private hire vehicle in question was part of the taxisafe scheme and had a cctv camera fitted. Following the robbery the council’s licensing officers were able to download the images and pass them to the Police for use as evidence in the trial.
What they say
Councillor Jim Battle, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council said: "We have worked in partnership with GMP City Centre Safe, the taxi trade to introduce this scheme and we are delighted that as a direct result of this initiative that we have been able to secure this prosecution.
"The scheme was introduced to improve both the safety of taxi drivers and their passengers and this result shows us that this is a valuable weapon in our drive to deter crime and anti-social behaviour in our taxis.
"We are hoping to roll out the scheme across the city to allow all drivers to operate such cameras in their vehicles."
The cameras record encrypted images which only council licensing officers and police can view using software.
Sergeant Jan Brown from GMP’s City Centre Safe unit said: "The City Centre Safe scheme is committed to ensuring people who work, live and visit Manchester have a safe time in the city. Working alongside the council we have been able to successfully install these CCTV cameras in a number of taxis. Not only have these images helped to convict an offender, but the fact that situations are being recorded helps to reassure drivers and sends out a clear warning to anyone even thinking about committing an offence".
Manchester Metropolitan University will be evaluating the project by analysing questionnaires completed by drivers and passengers. The Licensing Unit is also sent out to more than 1000 questionnaires to private hire and hackney carriage drivers to gauge the extent of the problems they face while working.
The pilot scheme runs until April 2005.
