WESTBROOK–A hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up around the face. It’s a look so common in the city that police say it’s known on the street as a “Westbrook tuxedo.”

But the identity-concealing hoodie also has become the favored garb of robbers and shoplifters. And that’s why Westbrook police have launched a new initiative to discourage people from wearing hoods, hats and sunglasses in local businesses that have policies against them.

Police are now encouraging businesses such as banks and pharmacies to summon police when customers show up with their identities obscured.

“The police will respond professionally and politely and will identify the patron and ask them to remove their hoodies, hats and sunglasses,” said Westbrook Police Chief William Baker in a statement regarding the initiative. “Patrons unwilling to comply may be removed and banned from the property depending on the corporate policy of the particular business involved.”

The new initiative is believed to be the first in Maine, and Baker said its intent is to deter robberies. However, the Maine Civil Liberties Union is raising concerns that it may inadvertently target people whose religions require them to keep their heads covered at all times.

“This seems like a really broad gesture that may sweep far beyond what police are intending,” said Zachary Heiden, legal director of the MCLU.

However, Baker, who said he also is a lawyer, said such issues were discussed by police and participating businesses and he believes everyone involved will use “common sense” to prevent such situations arising.

To get the word out on the new policy, police hope to install life-size cardboard cutouts of Westbrook police officers and customers in the lobbies of participating businesses. The cutouts will depict the officer with his or her arm around someone wearing a hoodie.

According to Baker, the cutouts will send the message: “If you come in looking like this, we are going to get to know you.”

Baker, who said he’s looking for a manufacturer of such life-size cutouts to work with police on the initiative, said that banks and other businesses often have signs that ask patrons to remove their hoods, hats and sunglasses. However, he said, customers may not notice the signs.

He said the cutouts are simply “a lighthearted way to make the policy more obvious.”

Baker said he came up with the idea for the new initiative as Westbrook police work in concert with local businesses to find proactive ways to stop robberies and shoplifting. He is not aware of any other police departments in Maine with such a policy.

“We’re in a constant mode of trying to be ahead of the curve and take care of the problem rather than just respond,” Baker said.

So far this year, there have been 14 robberies in Westbrook and 156 shoplifting cases. He said that because of changes in reporting measures, he couldn’t compare those figures to previous years. However, he said, it’s clear that with a growing number of people addicted to opiate drugs, the chance of robberies is increasing.

The goal of the new initiative is deterrence, Baker said. He said he hopes it will send the word that hoods, hats and sunglasses must be off in businesses that have policies against such concealing dress, which make it difficult for security cameras or bank or business staff to identify patrons.

Baker said that although businesses may have posted signs asking people to take such items off, they may lack the security staff to enforce their policy.

“Knowing that hoodies, hats and sunglasses will yield a police response is likely to be an effective deterrent to robbery in Westbrook,” Baker said in his statement.

He stressed that the initiative is only for businesses that want to participate.

“It’s a voluntary agreement between police and a coalition of the willing among the business community,” he said.

Patty Kenney, branch manager of the Casco Federal Credit Union on Cumberland Street, said that branch plans to participate.

“I’m 100 percent for it,” said Kenney, who said she was working at a Gorham branch of the credit union 10 years ago when it was robbed.

She wasn’t hurt physically but the experience was psychologically traumatizing, Kenney said.

“Whatever we have to do to prevent this from happening, I’m all for it,” she said.

The credit union has signs in the lobby asking people to remove hats, sunglasses and hoods while doing business at the bank. She said when people come up to a teller window with such garb on they’re asked to remove it. Or Kenney said that if she notices someone standing in line who hasn’t taken off a hat, hood or sunglasses, she’ll ask the person quietly to do so.

Most customers are compliant, but, Kenney said, it’s good to know that the bank can rely on police if needed.

“If someone is in the lobby and they refuse to take their hoodie off, we will call,” she said.

It’s not clear how many other banks and businesses will participate in the initiative. Some of those identified as potential participants declined to comment, citing corporate policy preventing them from talking about security procedures.

Heiden said that as a general matter, businesses can set restrictions on the type of dress they will allow, as long as they’re not designed to discriminate against minority groups protected by law.

He said of the Westbrook policy: “I would hate to see a local government put in place a policy that inadvertently discriminates against someone’s religion.”

Heiden suggested that if the policy is still evolving, it might be a good idea to include some explicit protections for the wearing of religious garb in the policy.

“Common sense doesn’t always carry the day, but we always hope it will,” he said.

Baker said it is not the police making the restrictions, but the participating businesses who set their own policies about patrons not obscuring their identities. “This is not the police and the government imposing our will on anybody,” he said.

He said the initiative makes sense.

“We discussed this at length internally and with the business community,” Baker said. “To protect our employees and make our employees safe, we don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask you to take off a Red Sox hat or hoodie during a five-minute transaction.”

Hooded sweatshirts, known as hoodies, have become a favorite garb of robbers and shoplifters. To show how such clothing can conceal a person’s identity, Westbrook police released this video camera surveillance photo from a recent case.
Courtesy image

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