Push renewed for fingerprint checks on rideshare drivers
After alleged attempted kidnap in Boston.
There’s a renewed push for fingerprint background checks for rideshare drivers in the wake of an alleged kidnapping in Brighton last week.
The head of the New England Livery Association is urging State House legislators to quickly take up a rideshare bill that would require the Bay State to conduct fingerprint background checks of the state and national criminal history databases.
Every cab driver in Boston has to pass a fingerprint background check before they’re allowed on the road, argues Rick Szilagyi, executive director of the New England Livery Association.
“Fingerprinting is the gold standard for background checks,” Szilagyi told the Herald on Tuesday, noting that former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said so years ago.
“The onus is on the TNC (transportation network company) to ensure safety, and anything they can do to ensure safety is what they should do,” Szilagyi added.
In the letter to legislators, he cited the alleged Brighton kidnapping from last week when a rideshare driver allegedly trapped a woman inside his vehicle.
Kamal Essalak, 47, of Acton, is accused of “behaving strangely” after the woman got inside his vehicle, and she requested to be let out. But when Essalak stopped the vehicle, the woman was unable to open the door. The child safety locks had been enabled, trapping her inside the vehicle.
She was eventually able to escape, and Essalak was arrested two days later. The alleged incident follows a series of alleged sexual assaults committed by rideshare drivers in Boston.
The legislation, “An Act requiring the fingerprinting of TNC drivers,” was referred to the Joint Committee on Financial Services last session.
“We believe that public safety is the foundation that our transportation industry must stand for,” Szilagyi wrote to the legislators. “We hope that your Committee will schedule a public hearing quickly to get the public discussion on this public safety issue moving.”
The TNC legislation signed by Gov. Charlie Baker in 2016 mandated additional background checks performed by the state Department of Public Utilities on drivers already approved by companies like Uber and Lyft.
“The last figures we heard from the MA DPU indicated that 10% of drivers approved by TNCs, were refused permits by the DPU after the DPU conducted its own background checks,” Szilagyi wrote. “This clearly demonstrates the importance of legislation and government involvement in providing for public safety. Imagine the percentage if fingerprint-driven background checks were to be added.”
The state requires fingerprinting for other workers who come into contact with “potentially vulnerable populations,” he wrote. Those employees include teachers, bus drivers and child care workers.