![]() Traffic light when he noticed something odd, The robber was apparently too busy demanding money from the terrified driver to notice the police cruiser in the rear-view mirror.īerks County Deputy Sheriff Terry Ely was waiting at a “The fact we can get video makes our job so much easier.An unobservant crook experienced instant justice after sticking up a cabbie in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Monday. “To me, it’s the new era of crime-fighting,” he said. When Adams started out as an assistant district attorney in the early 1990s, video wasn’t available as a tool for law enforcement. There are cases where the video may not be clear, but still, the fact that we have video corroborates witness testimony.”Īdams said that video evidence from cameras installed by the city, as well as businesses, organizations and some private residences, has been useful in prosecuting crimes ranging from shoplifting to murder. Adams, however, said video cameras and the images they provide have become the best friends of prosecutors. “It’s not like it’s hiding right in the middle of the windshield,” Becker said.ĭistrict Attorney John T. He questioned how effective they are in actually preventing crimes, as they are in obvious view of any would-be robber. Three males, one with a gun, took $300 from the driver after the cab arrived at a home to pick up a customer, police said.īecker said that the main reasons to install the cameras are to encourage driver safety and to provide evidence against false insurance claims. But probably not for long.įred Becker, a dispatcher at Grab-A-Cab, said the company has been working on getting cameras since being robbed twice in December.Īnother robbery involving a Grab-A-Cab driver occurred Tuesday night in the 400 block of South Tulpehocken Road, Bern Township. in Temple, aren’t equipped with in-car cameras. The other companies that were hit, including Grab-A-Cab Inc. Stricker said that he’s fielded inquiries from news organizations as far away as Norway.ĭespite Monday’s holdup, Valletta said that he believes the cameras were the reason that he and other Reading Metro drivers were not targeted during a two-week stretch in December during which at least four cabbie robberies occurred in Reading’s northeast section. ![]() It has since been picked up by national news organizations and shown on network newscasts, the “Today” show and other programs. The video was initially uploaded by the cab company and shared with Reading police and some local media outlets. The entire incident, including the action inside the cab and Ely’s unexpected arrival, was captured by the rear-facing windshield camera. ![]() The windshield cameras, installed at a cost of $500 each, paid off on Monday afternoon when one of them recorded in striking detail the attempted robbery of cab driver Ralph Valletta.Ī backseat passenger, whom police later identified as 18-year-old Victor Martinez-Herrera of Reading, put a gun to Valletta’s head and demanded money when the cab stopped for a red light at Buttonwood and North 10th streets. “You put those cameras in there and it’s an open-and-closed case.” ![]() “A lot of times it’s, ‘He said, she said,’ ” company President Curt Stricker said Thursday. The cameras also record accidents, something that helps the company defend against false claims by other motorists. Instead, the cameras were meant to serve other purposes, such as encouraging cab drivers to drive safely and to help identify customers who refuse to pay fares. Reading Metro Taxi didn’t install cameras in its 35 vehicles with the idea that video of an armed robbery involving one of its drivers would one day be shared around the world.
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