Law Enforcement in Nassau County Implements New Legislation
Police in Nassau County, New York, have made their first arrest under a newly enacted local law that bans face masks, officials announced on Tuesday.
On Sunday night, Nassau County Police responded to reports of a suspicious individual near the Levittown and Hicksville town line, approximately 30 miles east of Manhattan. Officers discovered Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo, 18, dressed in black clothing and a black ski mask that left only his eyes exposed.
Suspicious behavior and arrest
According to police, Ramirez Castillo displayed additional suspicious behavior, such as attempting to conceal a large bulge in his waistband and refusing to comply with officers’ commands. The bulge was later identified as a 14-inch knife. Officers arrested Ramirez Castillo without further incident.
Ramirez Castillo was arraigned on Monday in Family Court in Westbury on misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of a weapon and obstructing governmental administration, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly’s office. Lt. Scott Skrynecki, a spokesperson for the police department, stated that Ramirez Castillo would also face a misdemeanor violation of the face mask law in the coming days.
Officials praise new law
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who signed the mask ban into law earlier this month, praised the legislation. “Our police officers were able to use the mask ban legislation as well as other factors to stop and interrogate an individual who was carrying a weapon with the intent to engage in a robbery,” he said in an emailed statement. “Passing this law gave police another tool to stop this dangerous criminal.”
Expert opinions
Keith Ross, a criminal justice professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, noted that while police didn’t necessarily need the new law to stop and question Ramirez Castillo, it helped bolster their justification. “The law gives police, at the very least, reasonable suspicion to conduct a stop,” Ross explained by phone. “Under reasonable suspicion, police can forcibly stop a person in New York state if they are suspected of committing a felony or a penal law misdemeanor, which is where this new law falls.”
However, Scott Banks, attorney-in-chief at the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, which is representing Ramirez Castillo, challenged that notion. “There is no basis to believe that wearing a face mask was intended to conceal identity or criminal behavior, and if that was the basis of the stop I believe there is a basis to conclude the stop was unlawful,” he wrote in an email.
Community and legal reactions
The New York Civil Liberties Union, which has criticized the new law, reiterated its warning that the mask ban is “ripe for selective enforcement by a police department with a history of aggression and discrimination.”
Disability Rights of New York, a group advocating for people with disabilities, filed a legal challenge last week, arguing that the mask law is unconstitutional and discriminates against people with disabilities. The federal class action lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to immediately halt enforcement of the ban.
Background of the Mask Transparency Act
The Mask Transparency Act was approved by the county’s Republican-controlled legislature in response to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The law makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, for anyone in Nassau County to wear a face covering to hide their identity in public. It exempts people who wear masks “for health, safety, religious or cultural purposes, or for the peaceful celebration of a holiday or similar religious or cultural event for which masks or facial coverings are customarily worn.”
Police and county officials plan to discuss the incident further at a news conference on Wednesday.