Dinkins Calls Slaying of N.Y. Cabdrivers ‘Public Crisis’ : Crime: Two more are killed over the weekend, bringing the death toll to seven. The mayor orders more police officers to pose as cabbies.

Alarmed by the slaying of two more taxi drivers over the weekend, Mayor David N. Dinkins on Sunday labeled the situation “a public crisis” and ordered additional police to pose as cabbies in an effort to catch the killer or killers.

“These killings represent more than a brutal attack on the drivers who have fallen victim,” the mayor said. “They have also become an assault on a vital link in our transportation system.”

Seven cabdrivers have been shot to death in a little over six weeks in New York City. Detectives said three of the drivers were slain by the same gunman in apparent robberies. Police were conducting ballistic tests on the latest victims.

Dinkins spoke after the body of a still unidentified driver was found inside his car early Sunday morning in the Bronx. He had been shot behind the left ear. His wallet was missing.

A police spokesman said the latest victim was killed with either a .32-caliber or .38-caliber weapon. The three drivers, who police say were killed by the same gunman, were shot with a .22-caliber weapon.

On Saturday afternoon, Ferdinand Jeannot, 27, was found shot in his cab in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant section, apparently with a .22-caliber gun. The bullet went through a plexiglass partition separating the front and the rear seats of the vehicle. Both of the cab’s front doors were locked and Jeannot had about $100 in cash. He died at a nearby hospital several hours after the cab was discovered smashed against a playground wall.

All but one of the drivers worked for firms that dispatch cabs to pick up passengers who telephone the cab company’s central office. In poor neighborhoods, these car services remain the chief form of transportation aside from city buses and subways.

As the killings have increased, drivers for these car services have become more and more terrified. Many have stopped working at night or answering calls from strangers.

Last week, hundreds of drivers with black mourning ribbons attached to the antennas of their vehicles attended the funeral of another driver slain in the Bronx. Tempers ran high, and the next day, a caravan of angry car service cabbies tied up commuter traffic on the Triborough Bridge at the height of the evening rush hour.

Many of the drivers said they felt abandoned by police and were scared. In an effort to protect themselves, some of the drivers radioed to their companies descriptions of all passengers they picked up. In addition, some of the cab companies began to remove dark tinted glass windows from their vehicles in an effort to make any attacks more visible from the street.

At a news conference before the funeral, representatives of several of the companies called upon Dinkins to intercede and offer greater protection.

On Sunday, after the latest slayings, Dinkins ordered Police Commissioner Lee Brown to add more officers to the task force searching for the killer or killers. Some 30 officers had been assigned to the search, a number representatives of the cab companies had called inadequate.

The car services are distinct from yellow medallion cabs that cruise New York’s streets looking for passengers. Most of these drivers concentrate on working in more affluent neighborhoods, or at the city’s airports.

Poor areas often are abandoned by drivers of the yellow cabs and the result has been the growth of car services to fill the void.