Adams: Unmask thieves

‘No face, no entry’ bid for bodegas

Mayor Adams wants the Big Apple’s retailers to make customers remove their masks in a bid to stem the ongoing shoplifting epidemic — but some merchants are wary of how they’re going to enforce that.

“We are putting out a clear call to all of our shops: Do not allow people to enter the store without taking off their face mask,” the mayor said Monday on 1010 WINS radio. “And then once they’re inside, they can continue to wear it if they so desire to do so.”

Adams said the move would help cops “use the technology we have available to identify those shoplifters and those who are committing serious crimes.”

NYPD Chief of Patrol Jeffery Maddrey — who suggested a similar unmasking plan earlier this week — called the mayor’s proposal a “common-sense approach.”

It was also endorsed by Fernando Mateo of the United Bodega Workers of America, who said, “I back up the mayor 100%.

“COVID is over, let’s take the masks off,” Mateo said. “He’s not referring to grandma and grandpa or regular customers who come in. We are talking about criminals.”

But Francisco Mata of the rival Bodega and Small Business Group said Adams “should make it illegal to wear the masks now” and put the NYPD in charge of enforcement.

“We cannot do that because two years ago, we tried to enforce people to wear the mask and people would not listen,” he said. “It’s a good idea but we cannot enforce it.”

A Brooklyn store owner whose business was recently robbed said Adams’ plan was “easy for him to say.”

“What am I supposed to do? Ask every man, woman, kid who walks in to buy a juice to take their mask off ?” the merchant said. “So, they take the mask off — then they rob me. How am I supposed to be safe? I have to make a living. What am I supposed to do, close up shop?”

Law enforcement sources also warned that the mayor’s idea could backfire.

“If you tell one of these guys in the ‘hood who’s coming out to get a beer to take his mask off, he’s going to tell the bodega worker to shut up and beat the crap out of him,” a veteran Bronx cop said, adding, “They should help these bodega owners with better cameras, plexiglass, panic buttons.”

A Manhattan cop also called Adams’ recommendation “just another desperate act by a desperate administration.”