Jan 2015 - Taxi cameras reduce taxi robberies

Stockholm, Sweden - 2015-01-20

New figures from the Swedish Crime Prevention Council show that the number of taxi robberies in Sweden fell by 25% between 2013 and 2014, and that the number of robberies is now at its lowest level since the taxi industry was deregulated in 1990. According to Claudio Skubla, communications manager at the Swedish Taxi Association, one contributing factor is that many cars now have security cameras.

According to the statistics, Skåne County is an exception. There, taxi robberies increased by 230% between 2012 and 2013 and by 40% between 2013 and 2014.

“We have seen that the use of security cameras in taxis reduces the number of crimes, and several of the large taxi companies in Skåne do not have cameras at all, so that may be one explanation for the statistics,” says Pointguard CEO Jesper Flygt in a comment. Taxi drivers in Malmö who spoke to SR are of the same opinion and believe that there should be cameras in all cars (link).