TAXI SERVICE: NO SEX-OFFENDERS HERE

Acting on a suggestion by Parents for Megan's Law, a Suffolk taxicab service has announced it will attach decals to the passenger side doors of its vehicles to inform riders that its drivers are not registered sex offenders.  Lindy's Transportation, a taxicab company based in Islandia has agreed to conduct background checks on its drivers to ensure that they are not listed on New York State's sex offender registry.  The move is a voluntary program coordinated by Stony Brook-based Parents for Megan's Law.  A cab driver should not be a convicted sex offender, it's acting like a vehicle of opportunity for them, said Laura Ahearn, executive director of PFML.  They should not be working for a company where they are exposed to vulnerable populations.  Ahearn said she is pushing for a state or county law that would prevent sex offenders from driving cabs by requiring employers to fingerprint drivers and check them against the state registry annually.  Ahearn said that fingerprinting requirements for the hack license vary in each municipality and that no Long Island town annually checks cab drivers against the registry.  Lindy's manager Bob Piracci said he checked every one of the company's 190 drivers against the sex offender registry and found one was a Level 3 offender, the level considered most likely to reoffend.  The driver was fired about three weeks ago, after nearly two months on the job.  We have zero tolerance of sex offenders driving cabs, simply for the protection of our passengers and the residents of Suffolk County, said Piracci.  There have been incidents involving sex offenders driving cabs, Ahearn said.  In 2005 a Level 2 sex offender who was convicted for raping a 15 year old was working for Four One's Taxi in mastic after his 8 month sentence.  The company fired the offender upon learning he was an offender.

(New York)