Daily Times

On a busy road in Karachi, a lady jumped out of a moving cab to avert likely ugly situation being created by App Operated Cab driver. Police report indicated misconduct by the cab driver and kidnapping attempt as he changed the predetermined route without prior intimation and permission of a lady passenger. A Cab driver in Lahore robed his passenger through his colleague whom he had made to hide in car’s trunk. The Company in-fact had employed these particular criminals without having got the credentials, lineage and track record checked. The outcome was but as expected.

Five gangs of dacoits containing sixteen culprits targeting App Cab drivers in Islamabad were busted. Dacoits as per the report had killed a man, injuring two others in a robbery attempt. The safe and secured operational system by App based cab companies warrants to have a documented procedure for pre-employment background check and vetting of their drivers. Driver is a key linker in taking this industry forward with efficacy if supported with requisite client friendly and secured environment. As the property, honor and lives especially of ladies of public at large are at risk, requirement is to have out of box solution to ensure various ends of safety and security satisfied in a given high risk market of Pakistan. Intrusive and detailed screening of drivers to purge infiltrators has to be the top pinned priority. Additionally, discreet mounting of camera with sim facility for live transmission/recording and activation of alarm at the App Cab Control Room can subsequently help Police investigation in nabbing the offenders.

The character on papers seldom matches the on ground profile of a personespecially in Pakistan where Police system is marred and is most corrupt amongst others as per Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. Palm greasing can get character certification even of a most notorious person.

The IT based criminal record check recently being introduced in Punjab is convenient yet it carries all the possibilities of false reading of character profile of a person as it exists on ground. To fight the legal battle in case of misconduct by a driver, this record would be a proof for defense before Court of Law for the Cab Company but the requirement on ground dictates that a proper Character Profile should be prepared by the credentials verification officer of various private security companies. These verification officers make several ground visits, interview neighbors, check surroundings, meet notables of the area and Police to confirm the veracity of claimed credentials. That makes true on ground personality profile. The character profile so prepared to great extend helps in estimating the likely behavior and conduct of a driver and also acts as a deterrence. Side by side to purge illegal immigrants NADRA VERISYS plays significant role and also prevents usage of double issued ID cards for purpose of crime and fraud. Against forgery and incompetency of a particular driver the license verification indicating particular length of experience and its veracity should be a must item of verification scheme.  The regulators at provincial level dealing with Transport and Safety must make it compulsory for App Cab Companies to put essential parameters in place through proper legislation. Are these companies freelance or paying provincial taxes under the realm of Services Tax as levied to other service providers at a prescribed rate and also meet the minimum technical security parameters?

The drivers should also be re-verified after certain period of time by sample testing as per their track record. The grading system of a few cab companies can effectively assist in purging a driver, if confirmation of tainted personality is also established through the re-verification exercise

Companies must also establish, document, implement and maintain procedure that should screen out undesired elements including office employees as huge data bank of public information is stored with them. The appropriate anti cybercrime preventive measures must be put in place to avoid hacking and data theft. Suitability based on education, knowledge, skills, experience and other attributes should be given due cognizance to protect the reputation and brand of the company and to ensure safety and confidentiality of commuters life and data. As per International Standards based on Montreux Documents ICoC (International Code of Conduct) and ISO-18788 (Standard for operations and management of Security Companies), the vetting and screening process of any service provider for having the requisite security parameters should include a) identity verification b) personal history verification and c) credentialing. Country like Pakistan with a given law and order situation, the personal history verification should be expanded into 1) Home Address 2) Employment Records 3) Social Media Profiling 4) Criminal and Civil Record history 5) Records of Human Rights violations and 6) Linage and Character Envelope based on detailed ground check. Being International companies they should adhere to these well recognized safety and security standards of verification. As the business grows the risk canvas will get enlarged corresponding at a faster pace.

The drivers should also be re-verified after certain period of time by sample testing as per their track record. The grading system of a few cab companies can effectively assist in purging a driver, if confirmation of tainted personality is also established through the re-verification exercise.

Third party ground audit about the performance profile of Cab Companies may also be conducted to check the effectiveness of applied plans so as to do the SWAT analysis for safety, security and business promotion. The more the transparency about operations and stringent safety measures; greater will be the customer comfort and that shall breed business. Survey template should include feedback from customers (commuters), drivers, employees of a Cab company and public at large.

The verification system so introduced should have ‘Verification Clearance Number’. The identity of a driver should be reckoned with this number on the App and the passenger be communicated this vital piece of information at the time of ride. Verification documents should be kept with the same reference number for purpose of prompt coordination between Police, Cab and Verification Company in case of any legal proceedings or untoward incident.

In case of criminal misconduct by a driver, companies must go against culprit for prosecution to build customer comfort and deter those standing on fence. There should be a binding over the Company conducting verification to bear testimony to its complete verification documents and deposed them before Police and Court of law if so needed to defend Cab Company reputation and business.  The undertaking from the subject employee for his ground check is mandatory and he/she must not be employed unless cleared through prescribed verification process. Discreet credentials verification is illegal and void as per the law and amounts to encroachment into privacy. In case of a cab driver quitting the App Service and becoming defaulter of payments, the credentials verification record could be a great help in tracing the culprit by the recovery officer.

Sexual harassment cases reported are few, yet alarming. The initiative of lady cab driver may not be a very successful story under the socio-cultural environment of Pakistan viz security situation. Companies should think of alternate solutions. One could be that mongst available number of drivers; as per age matrix, character profile and past performance, certain number can be marked to pick lady passengers on preference. The bonus of such drivers be enhanced as an incentive and penalty stakes correspondingly should also be raised. The Verification Company may be asked to give recommendation for employment of a suitable driver to pick and drop lady passengers with preference over others.

Taxi owners at present are selling and opting to be App Cab Drivers. The elimination of competitor in the market will have its negative effects if Cab companies get into forming cartels and jacking up the cost of traveling. There is requirement that government authorities should establish certain operating and safety parameters to safeguard interest of public at large

The writer is a retired Bragadier and Security Practitioner based in Islamabad

Published in Daily Times, November 16^th 2018.