Like so many other cities, Philadelphia has been experiencing an epidemic of retail theft, with looters emptying out stores on a regular basis. The cultural and societal impacts of this trend are both obvious and negative. After hearing repeated complaints from lawful citizens, the Philadelphia City Council moved this week to do something about it, but their “solution” was rather curious. They passed a ban on the wearing of ski masks in certain public places, with a modest fine imposed on those who violate the ban. It’s true that many of the looters wear masks of various types to conceal their identities while emptying out stores, but is this really going to cut down on looting? Opponents of the measure also claim that some people will be unfairly targeted while not committing any crimes. (Associated Press)

Philadelphia City Council passed legislation to ban ski masks in some public spaces, a measure supporters say will increase public safety amid high violent crime, but opponents argue it will unfairly target people without proof of any wrongdoing.

The legislation passed on Thursday with a 13-2 vote, and now goes to Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney. A spokesperson said he would review the legislation and “looks forward to our ongoing work with City Council on the urgent matter of ensuring public safety.”

The measure would ban ski masks, or balaclavas, in public spaces like schools, recreation centers, parks, city-owned buildings and on public transportation. It defines the garment as a close-fitting covering over the whole head, with holes only for the eyes, nose, or mouth.

This is one of those issues where I can see both sides of the debate, at least to a certain extent. If you’re walking into a grocery store or a drug store wearing a mask and the weather is temperate or mild, odds are that you’re up to no good and someone should alert the police. So perhaps if people were unable to mask themselves in that fashion they might be less likely to engage in these crimes.

With that said, however, common sense suggests that this type of ban isn’t really going to solve any problems and it might even cause a few new ones. First of all, if someone is willing to risk walking into a store in broad daylight and stealing hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise, would they really be all that worried about receiving a ticket for wearing a mask while doing so? It seems unlikely. Further, what about when there is inclement weather, particularly in the winter? Will they really start ticketing people for wearing a common item simply because their face was cold?

Then there’s the question of enforcement. The Philadelphia police have enough on their plates at the moment, to put it mildly. Who is going to be going around and handing out tickets to people who are wearing masks but may not yet be engaged in any actual looting? It just seems as if that wouldn’t be very far up on the priority list in a city with a rising murder rate.

Also, why was such a specific type of mask that only one being banned? In the looting videos we’ve been seeing, the perpetrators frequently wear either cloth masks or surgical masks, harkening back to the days of the pandemic. Sometimes they will simply wrap a bandana across their face. But the Philly ban specifically calls out ski masks, specifying “a close-fitting covering over the whole head, with holes only for the eyes, nose, or mouth.” So looting while wearing an N-95 mask is okay?

It sounds like this law wasn’t thought through very well. People are upset over all of the looting and the closure of stores, so the municipal government probably decided they needed to just “do something.” We can give them credit for noticing the problem, but this simply doesn’t look like any type of real solution.