California Store Bans Masks After Staffs Can’t Identify Robbers’ Faces

A shop in Beverly Hills, California has banned visitors from wearing masks, after a recent wave of robberies in which staff has been unable to identify thieves because their faces were covered.

According to Fox 11, Kitson, the owner of the boutique clothing store, said she has noticed a “disturbing” trend of people using masks to evade identification.

Fraser Ross said, “The mask mandate may have started as a health precaution, but we believe it is now being used by some for nefarious purposes. To that end, we have implemented our mandate. We do not allow the wearing of masks in the store during regular business hours. Those who wish to wear a mask are free to set up an appointment or visit our website for a personalized shopping experience.”

A sales associate at the store also said that the recent crime wave at the store has deterred some people from shopping there.

“It’s not something we wanted to do, but it’s what we have to do to maintain the safety of our employees and our assets,” Santos Hemeneve said.

Many businesses across the country have implemented mask recommendations or mask requirements for customers to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hemenway also said that in recent robberies, even their high-end cameras haven’t been able to identify suspects because of one problem: masks.

“Especially in the last few weeks, we have had several events where people have come using masks and tried to steal or steal property from our stores which is very unfortunate. Certainly, the security guards at all our stores have installed high-security cameras, but [the mask] covers their face, the most important part of their face that we need to use when showing them to the police,” Hemenway said.

According to the sales associate, robberies are also being witnessed at other stores in the area, leading to the closure of some stores.

This has become a new trend in most stores. All shop owners will soon place the same ban on their stores to avoid loss of goods and lives.