People who wear masks are often up to no good, whether it’s a Kluxer or a G8 anarchist, they cover themselves to cover their crimes, but if you really want to protect yourself against the bad guys, you need a gun, not a sticker. Signs don’t save lives, guns do.
Store owners asking customers to ‘unmask’
When the Good Food Junction grocery store was robbed at gunpoint last month, no one saw the perpetrator’s face.
His hood was up, the strings pulled tight.
Now with the help of police, the store’s managers want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“We get a lot of customers who come in with their faces covered and it makes us feel uncomfortable,” said Shauna James, a supervisor at the grocery store.
The new police initiative, dubbed “Unmask Crime,” is meant to help retailers deal with customers who refuse to take off their hoods, masks or scarves when they enter a store.
The idea is to get stores across the city to place stickers on their doors advising people they will be refused service if they don’t show their faces.
“(When) most robberies happen, everyone comes in with facial coverings — either scarves, bandanas or masks or something,” Staff Sgt. Brett Maki said.
As of late October, armed robberies in Saskatoon had spiked by 29.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2013, police statistics show.
The robbery at the Good Food Junction happened on Nov. 24. A man walked up to the till with his face covered and pointed a gun at the cashier.
Right to ask
James thinks being able to ask people to remove their facial coverings will help prevent such crimes and that thieves will be less likely to hold up a store if they know their faces will be caught on camera.
She said dozens of people come into the store every month, covering their faces with everything from bandanas to scarves and balaclavas, especially in the winter months. The police stickers on the door will give more weight to employees’ requests for people to show their faces, she said.
Maki said despite controversies in other cities like Montreal, every business has the right to ask people to show their faces.
He also said police consulted various groups before proposing the new program.
“I don’t think there will be anybody who will be offended by this. If they are being offended, I don’t have much of an answer for that,” Maki said.
While the police provide the stickers, the request to unmask is not law and it will be up to business owners to determine whether or not they adopt the practice.
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