Halloween Costume Shopping This Weekend? A Warning From Police

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Even before the first semi-cool breezes of fall (hey—this is Texas…), Jasmine Coby starts planning her Halloween costume. If you haven't noticed, yes, Halloween has officially been hijacked by the adults.

"Halloween is definitely for the adults!" exclaimed Coby while trying on a red dress for her version of Jessica Rabbit at Costume World Dallas. "I work at a car dealership and we dress up all the time."

Yep… the little ghosts and goblins will have plenty of company. But, remember when?

"We had the sheet, and we had the backup costume, so they wouldn't recognize you when you'd go back around," said Melissa Pomeroy, a sales associate with Costume World Dallas, while asking with a laugh-- "you did it, right?"

Those were the days. But, Pomeroy said nowadays grownups keep the locally owned costume business busy.

"This generation is a little less serious," said Pomeroy, "now, it's like we can still have fun. It's a fun holiday."

And North Texas police want to keep the holiday both fun and safe—for all adults—even those not in costume.

"It's common sense, perception is everything," says Lt. Pedro Barineu, Garland Police spokesperson. "Dress up. Go crazy. The thing about is, though, use common sense. Don't put yourself in a position where you're going to have other people worry if you are up to no good or not."

So he has a word of warning about masks that cover your face—especially if you're entering a place of business.

"I would probably take the mask off before going into a public business," said Jacquel Whitt. Costume World customer Abby Nieman agreed. "Sometimes you overstep those bounds of being funny… and take it a bit too far. It's just kind of respectful to take it off so they can see, because a lot of human interaction is me looking at your face and reading what you're saying or what I'm saying to you, so yeah, I'd say take it off," she said.

After all—the terror is supposed to be pretend.

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