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Port Authority cops lean on new surveillance center to catch taxi scammers
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Apr 21, 2026
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Bess Adler / Gothamist
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Apr 21, 2026
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From a command center at JFK Airport, the Port Authority Police Department watches everyone who comes and goes through the busy terminals.
Officers monitor dozens of screens displaying camera feeds capturing the arrivals and departures areas, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The center opened last year, and is among a number of surveillance upgrades the Port Authority is using to crack down on illegal taxi scammers who plague the airport.
The new tech in the command center include license plate readers that track every car in the airport’s footprint. The tech will soon become even more sophisticated through a $100 million Port Authority investment in an initiative called “Operation Legal Ride,” which will use artificial intelligence to help police the scammers at the airport.
Scot Pomerantz, the Port Authority Police commanding officer of JFK Airport, recently gave Gothamist a tour of the command center. Photographs were prohibited due to security concerns.
Pomerantz has been with Port Authority police for 24 years. Much of that time has been dedicated to chasing the airport hustlers.
“This isn’t something that we want here at the airport,” he said. “It’s not safe for our passengers. We take our enforcement extremely serious.”
The scammers, known as “hustlers,” have operated at New York City’s airports for decades. They coax unsuspecting tourists into unlicensed taxis — and charge them astronomical fares for their rides into the city. Gothamist reported earlier this year on a scammer who charged a married couple from Kenya $800 for a ride from JFK Airport to Midtown.
Port Authority data shows the new tech and command center has coincided with a crackdown at JFK. The police department issued 2,602 summonses for illegal taxi solicitation in 2025, nearly double the year prior.
Pomerantz said the surveillance upgrades help police in the command center coordinate with undercover officers in the terminals. When they catch someone hustling rides, they can impose fines of at least $750.
But Pomerantz blamed criminal justice reforms passed by state lawmakers in 2019 for allowing the taxi scammers to flourish in recent years. The reforms eliminated cash bail for many misdemeanor and nonviolent felony charges. He said taxi hustlers return to the terminals shortly after they’re arrested.
“We had one individual last year that we issued almost 100 summonses to … that person is still here operating,” said Pomerantz, calling the fines just the “cost of doing business” for scammers.
Before the 2019 reforms, Pomerantz claimed scammers who were frequently arrested would “do 15 days at Rikers Island for hustling.”
Airport staff, legal taxi drivers and even hustlers themselves previously told Gothamist there are at least 500 hustlers working at the airport. Pomerantz agreed that “they’re in the hundreds.”
“People are brazen,” Pomerantz said outside Terminal 8, where hustlers regularly chase illegal fares. “A lot of these individuals, this is their main source of employment.”
Pomerantz said he’s dealt with illegal taxi drivers at the airport since he was a rookie cop. By his account, most drivers solicit rides at Terminals 4 and 5, but the “most egregious hustlers” work out of Terminal 1, a hub for international airlines from countries like China, France, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
During a tour of the terminals with Pomerantz, Gothamist observed an unmarked police car with at least three undercover cops monitoring Terminal 8 arrivals. The car stopped a man who was allegedly soliciting incoming tourists for a ride. The man was issued a summons.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated how long Pomerantz has worked for the Port Authority Police Department. He's been employed there for 24 years.
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Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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