‘No Hoodie’ Plan in Oxnard Comes to the Valley—How Does it Work There?

It started off about 300 years ago. King Carlos III of Spain banned the wearing of broad-brimmed hats to conceal the identity of criminals, according to Police Constable John Weller, of the Folkestone Police Station in Kent, England.

Then, it went to the city of Oxnard. The poster idea became part of a Crime Free Business program that is so popular that it won awards, and training is being done there for Las Vegas, Iowa, San Ramone and now the North Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.

“The idea is to not allow potential criminals to hide behind a hoodie or hat,” said North Hollywood Patrol Division Commanding Officer Peter Whittingham, who is introducing the idea to businesses in Studio City and North Hollywood.

An 8-by-10-inch full color sticker will go on the window at the entrance of the stores. It has a sinister-looking guy with a goatee and chain around his neck in a hoodie and it says “PLEASE REMOVE Your Hat, Hoodie or Helmet before entering these premises.” It also gives the law that someone could get prosecuted by: 602.1(a) PC which allows any business to refuse service to anyone.

It does not mean a crime simply if you refuse to remove your hat, hoodies or helmet, but business owners do have the right to refuse service to people dressed that way. California law makes the obstruction or intimidation of businesses or its employees a misdemeanor.

Whittingham said he was impressed with the idea and sent one of his officers to Oxnard to learn from Det. Martin Ennis, who is the Crime Free coordinator for the program.

Ennis said, “The idea is very simple: If you're not a crook, why would you want to look like one. Employees are well within the rights to ask a customer to comply with the sign. If the customer refuses to cooperate, the store employee can ask the customer to leave. If the customer refuses to leave, the police should be called because the situation has escalated to a possible criminal act."

Ennis and Oxnard Commander Tom Chronister won multiple national and international honors for their Crime Free Business program. They developed the program in 2007 to reduce violence at small businesses by teaching managers and employees how to make their workplaces less appealing targets for criminals.

“We help advise the business community and give them tips that seem rather simple, but they work out well when they are done,” said Oxnard Police spokesman Monica Muñoz. “There are things like not having the cash register set up near the door to make it easy to rob, or not covering up the windows 100 percent so that people outside can see what is going on when they are driving by.”

The tips were compiled between 1996 and 2001 by two UCLA researchers, Carri H. Casteel and Corinne Peek-Asa, who asked businesses to follow seven simple steps. They found that crime went down 32 percent at the places that followed their suggestions, but that crime increased 43 percent at the places that did not follow their suggestions.

Casteel said that "Hat's Off" window display was only part of the overall Crime Free program, and their research has not evaluated the effectiveness of the no-hoodie idea. However, Ennis said that he has seen anecdotal evidence that the sign in the window does work, as part of the overall Crime Free Business program.

“We offer basic safe suggestions after conducting a survey walk,” Ennis said. “Sometimes it’s a matter of spending as little as $75 or $100 to get brighter lighting.”

Ennis said he met with some resistence at first. “The Mom-and-Pop places that have people working 15-hour days don’t want to come in for an hour-and-a-half of training,” Ennis said. “But every one of them after they come in say they are glad they did.”

Big chain stores welcome the training of their employees, and some companies have had insurance breaks because of the safety training. Independently-owned franchises still remain hesitant about the idea, and some say they’ve never heard of the program.

Yet, Ennis said his department helped one large company that was suffering $7,000-a-month in losses to now losing $700 a month in stolen goods.

“It’s a matter of getting proactive, and some common sense,” Ennis said. “If a person refuses to uncover their head or the subject becomes disruptive or says expletives then they can be arrested.”

Some members of the Studio City Chamber of Commerce seemed pleased with the idea and said it seemed to be a very easy solution.

For more information about the Oxnard program, go to: http://www.oxnardpd.org/crimefreebusiness.

See the press release and additional information about the program from the Oxnard Police in the PDF files above in the Photo Gallery.

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