Wednesday 5 June 2013

Bogotá taxis to boost security with "panic alarms"

Devices activating "panic alarms" are to become available to taxis in Bogotá, anticipating possible emergencies like attempted assaults and to protect drivers and passengers from crime, media reported on 4 June. Fear of theft and violence haunts both taxi drivers and passengers in many Latin American cities, and police in Bogotá have advised residents not to hail a taxi on the street, especially at night. It is difficult to determine who fears whom more. The panic button activates technology that instantly alerts the police and the taxi authority in the capital, and is already installed in 480 taxis in Bogotá, Caracol radio reported on 4 June, citing comments by the capital's Government Secretary or security affairs coordinator, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo. The "button" appeared to be in an application called Digital Plus, which could be downloaded freely onto mobile telephones or similar devices; once activated the alarm would send the taxi's car number, the number of the mobile phone activating the "panic button," and the driver's mobile phone number, according to the Colombian daily Vanguardia Liberal. The system would also allow passengers to call a taxi whose movements were subject to a satellite monitoring system, the broadcaster RCN reported on 4 June, adding that the Digital Plus system was devised through an agreement between some 2,000 taxi drivers, the Bogotá Municipality and the police. Secretary Jaramillo was cited as saying there were some 50,000 taxi drivers in Bogotá.