NYC mayor wants stores to ban masks at entry so police can ID criminals
NEW YORK CITY (TND) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams wants stores in Manhattan to require customers to take their face masks off so police can more easily identify criminals.
Many customers in the city took up mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect themselves against illness, but now, Adams suggests some criminals and shoplifters are using the face masks to hide their identities.
During a Monday interview with 1010 WINS Radio, Adams said he now wants customers to remove their masks as they enter businesses.
We are putting out a clear call to all of our shops: Do not allow people to enter the store without taking off their face mask," Adams told PIX11 Morning News on the radio channel. "And then once they’re inside, they can continue to wear it if they so desire to do so."
Let’s be clear, some of these characters going into stores that are wearing their mask, they’re not doing it because they’re afraid of the pandemic, they’re doing it because they’re afraid of the police," Adams continued. "You saw what happened over the weekend when an innocent store owner was shot and killed. The person had a hazmat suit on and a mask."
Adams suggests that the mask-off requirement would allow New York Police Department (NYPD) officers to "use the technology we have available to identify those shoplifters and those who are committing serious crimes."
When the radio show hosts told Adams that his plan was putting the "onus on the stores" to enforce this new mask-off policy, the NYC mayor said the NYPD would assist by "beefing up" their presence in those Business Improvement District areas. Adams also said the NYPD and city would be "beefing up our surveillance and practices."
Adams's suggestion echoes previous suggestions from NYPD officials who, just days ago, also encouraged local stores to require customers to show their faces when entering.
We are asking the businesses to make this a condition of entry, that people when they come in, they show their face, they should identify themselves," NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said on Feb. 28, according to PIX11 News.
Maddrey later called Adams's proposal a “common-sense approach” during an unrelated news conference, according to the New York Post. However, some critics disagree.
For example, Francisco Mata of the Bodega and Small Business Group told the New York Post that while he thinks Adams "should make it illegal to wear the masks now," he wants the NYPD to be the ones to enforce it, not shop workers.
We cannot do that because two years ago, we tried to enforce people to wear the mask and people would not listen,” Mata reportedly said. “It’s a good idea but we cannot enforce it.”
"Law-enforcement sources" cited by the New York Post apparently voiced similar concerns. A Manhattan cop reportedly said that Adams’s recommendation was "just another desperate act by a desperate administration."
What store owner or worker wants to have an unnecessary confrontation with a possible criminal?” that Manhattan cop said according to the New York Post. “It is not worth it for them. The mayor should be worried about the people in Albany and try getting them to change the laws."
Many online were quick to criticize Adams's suggestion. Some did so over concerns about COVID-19 exposure, and others criticized what they called Adams's increasing use of "an already huge police budget." Others even suggested Adams should be impeached, or at least voted out during the next election.
At the beginning of 2022, NYPD reported that shoplifting levels in NYC had reached levels not seen in 30 years thanks to a surge in organized retail crime. An NYPD spokesperson told the New York Post that police have "significantly increased arrests" by 68% over the last year to fight the rise in crime.
This trend continues in 2023. Year-to-date as of Feb. 5, shoplifting-related arrests are up by 56%," the spokesperson reportedly added.
