VIRGINIA BEACH — Can you get arrested for wearing a mask while you’re out on Halloween? It depends on what your intentions are.
In Virginia, it is illegal for a person who is older than 16 to wear a mask in public with the “intent to conceal” their identity. Violating the law could result in being charged with a class six felony, which is punishable with between one and five years in jail and a $2,500 fine, according to state code.
The same law — code section 18.2-422 — also prohibits a person from wearing a hood, bandanna or any other “device” that hides a large portion of their face and conceals their identity.
There are a few exceptions to the law: You can wear a mask if your job requires it, when your doctor tells you to, during a state of emergency, when performing in a play or attending a masquerade ball or when wearing a holiday costume, according to the code.
Virginia code doesn’t specify what a holiday costume is or what holidays that rule applies to, Virginia Beach Police Department spokeswoman Linda Kuehn wrote in an email.
“The law does not state that a person cannot wear a ‘traditional holiday costume’ when it is not on the particular holiday (such as if a person wants to dress up like a super hero in July, there is nothing to say they can’t),” Kuehn wrote.
But according to area police, the no-mask law isn’t really about masks at all.
Instead, the heart of the law lies in the intentions of the person behind the mask, and the reason they are concealing their identity, said Norfolk Police Department spokesman Daniel Hudson.
Hudson added that those who wear masks to commit crimes like robbery and burglary are the reason the law exists.
Masks can be used in a variety of crimes, but are sometimes worn by people trying to hide their identities while committing robberies.
For example, Sequaan Cofield, of Shellville, Ga., and Dennis White were both charged in Virginia Beach with wearing a mask in public in April in connection with a bank robbery at a PNC Bank on Virginia Beach Boulevard. The court cases against both men are still active.
That means that masked partygoers and those taking their kids around the neighborhood to trick-or-treat likely wouldn’t be arrested or charged with a felony — unless they plan to rob a gas station on their way out.
But those same people could be stopped and questioned by police if they appeared to be suspicious while driving or walking down the street or entering a business while wearing a mask.
“They could be asked additional questions,” Hudson said. “You may know what you’re doing, but others might not know.”
When to take a Halloween mask off requires a bit of common sense, VBPD spokeswoman Tonya Pierce said.
For example, driving while wearing a mask is dangerous and shouldn’t be done. Wearing a mask into a business isn’t wise because the people working and shopping there could be frightened and called the police, even if that person isn’t up to anything criminal. In both cases, police would likely stop the mask-wearer and ask some additional questions.
“The intent of the law is to prevent people from concealing their identity to aide them in criminal activity, or to create an unsafe situation,” Kuehn wrote in an email.
“We’re just trying to make sure people are having fun and being safe while they’re doing it,” Pierce added.
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