TEGUCIGALPA, March 11 (Xinhua) -- The Honduran government on Monday launched a scheme to combat rampant violent crime in public transit.
The National Security Force for Urban Transport is connecting buses to a police response center, equipping them with surveillance cameras, and calling for stricter screening measures in hiring drivers.
"We lost 67,000 lives to a phenomenon of crime in the past 15 years. We should never become accustomed to that, because a life is priceless," President Juan Orlando Hernandez said during the inauguration of the system in the capital Tegucigalpa.
The service will be expanded to other major cities, including the northern city of San Pedro Sula, the northern town of La Ceiba and the western city of Santa Rosa de Copan.
Drivers, their assistants, and passengers are often the targets of criminal gangs that demand extortion in Honduras.
