Police warn women after taxi assaults

5 attacks reported in area since Oct.

Boston police are warning women to be vigilant and take precautions when they catch a lift from a taxicab - or what looks like one - after five attacks on women were reported in the last two months.

Investigators said they do not believe the cases are connected. Several occurred downtown, while two were out in Boston neighborhoods. A suspect has been arrested in one of the attacks; the others remain under investigation.

Police said the attacks reported include an indecent assault inside a taxicab around Atlantic Avenue on Oct. 4; an indecent assault by a limo driver near 20 Park Plaza on Oct. 11; an indecent assault by a taxi driver in the Uphams Corner area on Oct. 24 ; an attack in which a woman hailed a limo near Park Plaza on Nov. 1 and later woke up in the back seat of a town car with her clothes in disarray; and a rape on Dec. 7 by an off-duty taxi driver who picked up a woman by Hemenway Street in a private car, drove her to Saugus, and attacked her. A suspect was arrested in that case.

Captain Detective Genevieve King, who commands the family justice division, said women should ride only in licensed taxis, which she said would be safer than unlicensed taxis or private cars because they are regulated.

"Should anything happen in a Boston-licensed cab, at least we can work with the Hackney Carriage unit to identify who the driver was," she said.

She recommended taxi patrons not sit in front.