A proactive group of D.C. residents have come up with a way to make catching robbers much easier—eliminate the sale of ski masks. If criminals can't hide their faces with ski masks, it will easier to identify and catch them, right?
This was kick-started by a cluster of robberies in the city's Fourth Ward, where robbers (who are assumed to be part of a crew of stickup kids) utilized ski masks to make it all but impossible to identify them. The Washington Times went into further detail:
On a Metropolitan Police Department-run listserv, Ms. Wheeler was one of several people who broached the subject of trying to discourage the sale of ski masks in the neighborhood, or asked legislators whether there are other ways to ban their sale.
“I don’t know how you can get at it legislatively,” said Ms. Wheeler, acknowledging she meant to open the door to discussion rather than suggest her own cure-alls. “I don’t know that persuasion itself would work unless you have a personal relationship with a store owner.”
Though it's illegal to wear a mask if you intend to commit a crime (really?), it's difficult to enforce this law because you have to be able to judge a person's actions before they actually do anything. If ski masks are banned—which they probably won't be—criminals can always opt for face paint like in Dead Presidents or masks of president's faces like in Point Break.