Newsman: The NYC Mayor Eric Adams requesting that the members of the public should lower their face masks to reassure store workers they’re not criminals.
“Once they’re inside, they can continue to wear it if they so desire to do so,” Adams said of the policy Monday.
Criminals fear the police, not the pandemic, Adams said.
“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 said in an interview with radio station 1010 WINS.
The guidance quickly caused a stir in New York City, where the terrible toll from the early COVID-19 pandemic prompted a mask mandate. At many stores, doors and windows remain plastered with reminders to wear face coverings. Worries about the safety of New York City’s deli clerks and bodega workers remain grave.
The mayor and police officials are speaking out about masks as New York tries to reduce crimes, including store robberies and shoplifting.
In addition to easing clerks’ anxiety, Adams say, removing masks can give cameras a chance to identify criminals.
“When you see these mask-wearing people, oftentimes it’s not about being fearful of the pandemic, it’s fearful of the police catching them for their deeds,” the mayor said.
NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, the highest-ranking uniformed member of the agency, echoed Adams as he and other officials spoke about a recent spate of store robberies at a sidewalk news conference.
“As a sign of a peace offering, a sign of safety to those store workers, when we walk in, we should take down our mask,” Maddrey said, calling it “a commonsense approach.”
One masked man has been connected to at least four recent robbery cases across several boroughs, including a holdup that resulted in a clerk’s death.
In each robbery, Assistant Chief Joseph Kenny of the NYPD’s detective bureau said, “The perpetrator arrived on the scene driving a dark-colored scooter, wearing a white full-bodied Tyvek suit and a dark-colored face mask.”
The mask-removal policy could prove particularly effective, Maddrey said, in stores that have installed buzzers to grant
