Ban balaclavas and ski masks

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Balaclavas, commonly known as ski masks or face masks, have unfortunately become synonymous with criminal behaviour, enabling anonymity and facilitating illegal activities.

Street theft is becoming more and more of a popular crime in London and across the UK. With 91,000 phones being stolen in 2022 and only 2% of these being recovered. The main issue the police face is that if the crime is committed and the suspect is wearing a balaclava they have no way of identifying them and close the case down more or less straight away.

This isn’t the only crime that masked people are committing but they are protected behind the balaclavas they are legally allowed to wear.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

You may wish to sign the following petitions, which call for similar same action:

Ban wearing balaclavas in public:
Ban wearing balaclavas in public

Ban cyclists from wearing balaclavas without a genuine reason:
Ban cyclists from wearing balaclavas without a genuine reason

Introduce fines and stop and search powers for wearing a balaclava in public:
Introduce fines and stop and search powers for wearing a balaclava in public

Timeline

11 Oct 2023	Petition opened for signatures
16 Oct 2023	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21

Status Rejected

Rejected 16 Oct 2023

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