Mayor Eric Adams wants the Big Apple’s retailers to make customers remove their masks in a bid to stem the ongoing shoplifting epidemic — but some merchants are wary of how they’re going to enforce that.
“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 Monday on 1010 WINS radio. “And then once they’re inside, they can continue to wear it if they so desire to do so.
Adams said the move would help cops “use the technology we have available to identify those shoplifters and those who are committing serious crimes.”
“When you see these mask-wearing people, oftentimes it’s not about being fearful of the pandemic,” he said. “It’s fearful of the police catching them for their deeds.”
When told his plan was “really putting the onus on the stores,” Adams said the NYPD was helping out by “beefing up our coverage in those BID [Business Improvement District] areas, those high-shopping areas, and we’re also beefing up our surveillance and practices.”
While speaking to 1010-WINS radio Monday, Mayor Eric Adams said businesses need to have customers take off their masks upon entering a shop so their faces can be captured by cameras. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock“And we have something called ‘paid detail,’ where uniformed officers are allowed during their off-duty hours to do some of the security at many of our stores and locations,” he said.
“It has always been successful. I recall, when I was a police officer, it being utilized, and we are calling on those high-end stores to also continue to do so.”
NYPD Chief of Patrol Jeffery Maddrey — who suggested a similar unmasking plan last week — called the mayor’s proposal a “common-sense approach” during an unrelated news conference on Manhattan’s Upper East side.
Shoppers who wish to wear masks for health reasons will be allowed to put their face coverings back on after entering the store. ????????????????
Adams said there would be additional police officers stationed in busy shopping areas to ensure businesses would have help with the new mask policy. APIt was also endorsed by Fernando Mateo of the United Bodega Workers of America, who said, “I back up the mayor 100%.”
“COVID is over, let’s take the masks off,” Mateo said. “He’s not referring to grandma and grandpa or regular customers who come in. We are talking about criminals.”
But Francisco Mata of the rival Bodega and Small Business Group said Adams “should make it illegal to wear the masks now” and put the NYPD in charge of enforcement.
“We cannot do that because two years ago, we tried to enforce people to wear the mask and people would not listen,” he said. “It’s a good idea but we cannot enforce it.”
A Brooklyn store owner whose business was recently robbed said Adams’ plan was “easy for him to say.”
“What am I supposed to do? Ask every man, woman, kid who walks in to buy a juice to take their mask off?” the merchant said. “So, they take the mask off — then they rob me. How am I supposed to be safe? I have to make a living. What am I supposed to do, close up shop?”
Officials couldn’t confirm whether the 10% decrease in shoplifting complaints was a result of more arrests.
Law-enforcement sources also warned that the mayor’s idea could backfire on him.
“If you tell one of these guys in the ‘hood who’s coming out to get a beer to take his mask off, he’s going to tell the bodega worker to shut up and beat the crap out of him,” a veteran Bronx cop said. “They should help these bodega owners with better cameras, plexiglass, panic buttons.”
A Manhattan cop also called Adams’ recommendation “just another desperate act by a desperate administration.”
“What store owner or worker wants to have an unnecessary confrontation with a possible criminal?” the cop said. “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.”
Last month, The Post exclusively revealed that desperate members of the 34th Street Partnership — which covers the Manhattan neighborhood that’s home to Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square — had hired a canine security company to take a bite out of crime there.
Business owners have become desperate to ward off shoplifters, many taking matters into their own hands by employing private security guards and enlisting K-9s. John Nacion/ShutterstockAnd in The Bronx, the Fordham Road Business Improvement District recently hired a team of five security guards to patrol the borough’s busiest shopping area from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.
Retail thefts reached a record level for the second year in a row last year, with shoplifting complaints surging past 63,000 — a 45% spike over 2021 and nearly 275% more than during the mid-2000s.
But complaints inexplicably dipped 10% last month compared to the same period in 2022, with NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri saying it was “the first time that I can remember that we’ve seen a decrease in shoplifting in February.”
Lipetri dodged a question about whether cops had made more shoplifting arrests.
Additional reporting by Isabel Keane and Bruce Golding
