City Proposes Training Cabbies To Help NYPD Fight Sex Trafficking
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The city is considering a controversial plan to spend $2 million to train cabbies to be the eyes and ears of the police department in spotting sex traffickers.
Councilman Dan Halloran and others are outraged, calling the plan crazy and ludicrous.
1010 WINS' Stan Brooks reports
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Councilman James Vacca, Chair of the Transportation Committee, is defending the plan. "I think that asking cabbies to help us in situations like this is yet another tool that we can use to stop sex trafficking in the city," Vacca said.
Halloran is calling the plan a big waste of money, especially at a time when the mayor's latest budget proposal calls for closing firehouses and cutting after school programs.
Vacca believes the program is worth every penny.
"I don't think that we could have too many eyes and ears when it comes to fighting sex trafficking in this city," Vacca said.
Feelings about the proposal are mixed among cab drivers.
"I'll lock my doors and take them right there to the station," one driver told 1010 WINS' Stan Brooks.
"I'm not going to call the police; it's going to be more problems for me," another driver said.
The proposal is likely to pass the City Council, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has indicated that he will sign the bill.
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