无牌出租车在许多大城市很受欢迎，较低的票价会吸引乘客乘坐这些私人交通工具。无牌出租车能够提供较低的票价，部分原因是它们不受监管，不必遵守官方票价，因此它们可以将节省的费用转嫁给乘客。然而，吸引乘客乘坐这些出租车的正是这种情况可能会危及他们的安全。

上个月，两名无牌出租车司机涉嫌在波士顿对乘客实施性侵犯后，附近的一些社区正在花点时间考虑什么样的 背景调查规定适用于他们附近的出租车司机。

例如，在罗得岛州纽波特（许多波士顿通勤者居住的城市）的一名记者发现，无牌出租车也在纽波特运营。公共事业委员会汽车运输公司的官员特里默瑟告诉记者，这些无牌出租车几乎肯定是由不需要通过背景调查或证明他们有干净驾驶记录的人驾驶的。此外，这些司机使用的车辆可能没有像持牌公司的车队那样经过彻底检查，并且可能没有商业保险。

美世接着指出，纽波特有执照的出租车司机确实会接受背景调查，但这种调查只是基于州的。这项基于州的检查仅显示罗德岛州的公共刑事定罪，因此它不会阻止在邻州或任何其他地区有定罪的司机被雇用驾驶出租车。

美世表示，有些立法者希望看到对出租车司机进行国家背景调查，以便为公众提供额外的保护。一个全国性的背景调查工具，例如第三方背调公司的 US OneSEARCH，将是实现这一目标的一种经济有效的方式。US OneSEARCH 将姓名和出生日期与来自全国各州和地方数据库的超过 4.5 亿份公共犯罪记录进行比较。美国 OneSEARCH 数据库会经常更新新信息，以保持其对雇主的相关性和有用性。

进行全国背景调查将为出租车公司提供工具，以尝试查找在美国每个州之前因暴力犯罪（例如性侵犯、强奸、殴打等）而被定罪为出租车司机的任何个人的记录。这将是明智的，因为出租车司机通常与乘客单独在一起，并且能够将他们带到荒凉的地区以实施犯罪，正如波士顿案件中所指控的那样。当然，由于在波士顿的案件中没有逮捕任何嫌疑人，因此不知道他们是否真的有通过背景调查可以发现的先前定罪。背景调查无法预测未来，因此无法有效筛选出在工作中首次犯罪的人。

Unlicensed cabs are popular in many big cities, where lower fares attract passengers to these private modes of transport. Unlicensed cabs are able to offer lower fares in part because they are unregulated and do not have to abide by official fare rates, so they can pass this savings on to passengers. However, the very circumstance that attracts passengers to these cabs may be putting their safety in jeopardy.

After two unlicensed cab drivers allegedly committed sexual assault against passengers in Boston this past month, some nearby communities are taking a moment to consider what kind of background check regulations apply to cab drivers in their neck of the woods.

For example, a reporter in Newport, R.I., a city home to many Boston commuters, found that unlicensed cabs were also operating in Newport. Terry Mercer, an official with the Public Utilities Commission’s Motor Carrier told the reporter that these unlicensed cabs are almost certainly driven by individuals who have not been required to pass a background check or prove they have a clean driving record. Plus, the vehicles used by these drivers are probably not inspected as thoroughly as the fleets of licensed companies and may not carry commercial insurance.

Mercer went on to point out that the drivers of licensed cabs in Newport do get background checks, but the check is only state-based. This state-based check only reveals public criminal convictions from the state of Rhode Island, so it would not prevent a driver with convictions in neighboring states or any other region from being hired to drive a cab.

Mercer said that there are some lawmakers who would like to see national background checks required for cab drivers in order to provide additional protection for the public. A national background check tool such as US OneSEARCH from backgroundchecks.com would be an affordable and effective way to accomplish this. US OneSEARCH compares a name and date of birth against a collection of over 450 million public criminal records taken from state and local databases across the country. The US OneSEARCH database is updated frequently with new information to keep it relevant and useful to employers.

Running national background checks would give cab companies the tools to try and locate records for any individual with a prior conviction in every us state for a violent crime such as sexual assault, rape, battery, etc. from employment as a cab driver. This would be wise because cab drivers are often alone with passengers and able to take them to deserted areas for the purposes of committing a crime, as was alleged in the Boston cases. Of course, because no suspects have been apprehended in the Boston cases, it is not known whether or not they actually have prior convictions that could have been detected by a background check. A background check cannot predict the future, so it is not effective in screening out individuals who commit their first crime while on the job.