THE killing of 58-year-old taxi operator Milton Davis last week has rekindled fears in the public transportation sector as private operators say they are soft targets for criminals.

The taxi operators say they face the twin challenge of extortionists and vicious criminals who are quick to steal their vehicles and kill them.

President and director of communications of All Voice Taxi Association Lorraine Finnikin told the
Jamaica Observer on Sunday that this is a very sad time for people in the public transportation sector.

“It is heart-rending. It is a very sad and grieving moment for me. I know the sector is grieving very hard because each time it happens we start to wonder who will be next,” said Finnikin.

Sources say that Davis was last seen at a gas station in Duhaney Park, St Andrew, and told someone that he was heading to nearby Red Hills Road to pick up a passenger whom he would then take to Old Harbour, St Catherine.

According to the police, Davis, of a Waterford, St Catherine, address, was reported missing on Wednesday, February 13. His body was found on Saturday, February 15 in bushes near Century Farms in Old Harbour.

The Corporate Communications Network (CCN) told the Observer that about 7:50 am on Saturday, a passer-by stumbled on a body and alerted the police. On arrival, the body was seen lying in bushes in a state of decomposition. The scene was processed and the body, later identified as that of Davis, was taken to the morgue for a post-mortem.

While Davis’s murder was heart-rending for Finnikin, he said what is more devastating is knowing that there is not much outcry when taxi operators are killed.

“I don’t know of any record of us ever hearing the police doing any serious investigation when our operators are murdered. Any member of any other sector that is murdered in this country, you would hear the argument that, ‘We will leave no stones unturned until the criminals are brought to justice.’

“You would hear it repeatedly that the police will use every resource at their disposal to hunt down these criminals and bring them to justice. We have never heard those clips played when an operator is murdered,” said Finnikin.

“I remember doing a press conference at the University of Technology [Jamaica], where 11 media houses turned out. It was a grieving moment for us… because the operators were being killed, three or four per week in 2023. It was so hurtful that I cried at that press conference to know that nobody in private sector, Government, the police, Transport Authority, the Ministry of Transport was coming out to condemn the killing of an operator.

“Their deaths are not investigated like when a teacher, a doctor, a police or businessman is killed,” charged Finnikin, though providing no support for this allegation.

“It is a hurtful and painful feeling when the operator is murdered, but it is a worse pain when no sympathy is shown and no condemnation is sent. If people are killed from other sectors there are times when the police high command — depending on the individual — would give instructions that the police must search relentlessly until they find the criminals. We have never gotten those in our sector. It is more painful the treatment they have been given when they are murdered,” added Finnikin.

He said the killing of taxi operators is a recurring situation, and he believes they are being targeted.

Finnikin further claimed that, in 2021, 37 taxi operators were murdered while in 2022 there were reports of 57 taxi operators being killed.

According to Finnikin, in 2023, when the number of taxi operators who were murdered reached 69, he stopped counting because of a warning from the police.

“We did a press conference and outlined to the public that there were 69 operators who had been killed and that this had become an alarming figure. We were warned by the police that we could be charged for public mischief because the police had seven on their record. I had no intention of being scared of that warning from the police, but other presidents of taxi associations said it was best if we left it at that.

“During the period I would have attended 31 funerals, 31 candle-lighting and 31 set-ups. I could assure myself of the 31 out of the 69 because I was actively involved in all of the events leading up to the funerals. The police said they only had record of seven.

“In 2024…we lost 43 operators. Since the start of this year we have gone five. I have been asked the question before if I think that the sector is being targeted. The answer to that question is, ‘Yes.’ We are being targeted because we handle money every day. As you go around the steering [wheel], you start to collect money,” said Finnikin.

“In some of the incidents our operators go missing. It is not a lot, but there are some cases where the cars were also stolen. In one instance last year the car was burnt out completely. When you drive a public passenger vehicle you immediately become endangered by the extortionists and criminal elements.

“What we find happening between 2023 and now is that quite a lot of the operators who have been slain are operators who would have taken a charter and the next thing you know, you find a body and then you find the car somewhere else,” Finnikin said.

The taxi association president told the Observer he is also concerned that, in many cases when a taxi operator is murdered, members of the public automatically assume that it was because the victim was mixed up in criminal activities.

Finnikin insisted that the majority of public transport operators are decent, law-abiding citizens who are well respected in their communities and districts.

“They are family-oriented operators and investors,” argued Finnikin.

In the meantime, one Corporate Area taxi operator who did not wish to be named told the Observer that the killing of Davis underscores that the public transportation sector is one that carries a lot of safety risks for drivers and requires a very high level of discernment.

“Our world of work is not safe; we are [at] high risk. When you shoot a work [respond to a call for a potential passenger], the first thing you have to do is scan the work. For example, if the base says [the journey covers point A to point B], you ask who is travelling — whether it is a male or female. You identify the contact number and you call the customer, and you feel out the work and ask them a couple questions. If you come and look pon the work and you don’t like it, you can leave.

“You can tell the base that you don’t like how the work looks and then you leave it — you have to worry about your safety first. Our work is risky, worse if it is night. We have to be street-smart to get around. They refuse to give many of us firearms. I applied twice and they said no, because I live off Waltham Park Road. They came to my house to inspect the place and they said no. Dem seh dem nah gi mi,” said the peeved taxi driver.