Mr Alcock, who is a director of Dunedin Taxis and an executive member of the New Zealand Taxi Federation, said cameras had worked "very well" as a deterrent in the five months since they were introduced.
"People are aware the cameras are there when they get in to a cab," Mr Alcock said.
"It reduces the alcohol-fuelled hostility from some clients. And it's also helping reduce the number of people who are absconding without paying.
"It's working very well, and can help the police."
The cameras were made compulsory in taxis in 15 centres throughout New Zealand, including Dunedin, from August 1.
The measure was introduced to combat increasing rates of serious crime committed against taxi drivers. Nationwide there have been about 700 assaults of taxi drivers in the past decade.
Since 2008, two drivers have been killed on the job.
Taxis are also required to have a telecommunications system, which can be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and an emergency alert response system.
The only issues with the cameras Mr Alcock had encountered were a lack of awareness of them among frontline police and a couple of "minor technical problems", which had since been resolved.
Taxi driver Rob Donaldson thinks the cameras are a good idea, despite an alleged incident involving a passenger last month, while a camera was operating in his taxi.
"It's hard to say whether it will stop assaults," Mr Donaldson said.
"But it's a step forward in evidence."
Mr Donaldson had spoken to another taxi driver who said he had been hit on the head with a bottle by a passenger last month.
Assaults were uncommon but were not always reported to the police, Mr Donaldson said.
Snr Sgt Aitken said, while taxi drivers were occasionally assaulted, the greatest number of assaults in Dunedin were committed against bouncers, police or members of the public.
"Taxi drivers should be safe to do their job without being assaulted," Snr Sgt Aitken said.
"But unfortunately people don't always act responsibly when they have been drinking.
"The most serious assaults we deal with are random assaults of people walking up the street."
In the 12 months to July, assaults in public places in Otago and Southland dropped from 1060 reported incidents to 879.
In Dunedin total crime fell 12% during the same period.
