A year after last Halloween's creepy clown incidents, police are warning those looking to start trouble from behind a mask that they could be risking their own life.
With creepy clowns featured in the re-release of the movie "It" and television's "American Horror Story: Cult," clown costumes are among the most popular this year.
Houston Police Officers’ Union president Ray Hunt warns that people are already on edge, and justified in defending themselves.
"It's one thing if you're paying to go through a haunted house and you have somebody raising a plastic knife at you, it's another thing if you're not at a haunted house and simply minding your own business and somebody does that," he says.
"Simply because you’re wearing a Halloween costume doesn't give anybody the right to grab somebody or do anything that would be considered against the law and if so, that person has the right to react with whatever force necessary to protect themselves."
Fort Bend County Sheriff's Major Chad Norvell says business owners don't take too kindly to Halloween masks either.
"Don't go into banks wearing a mask. Don't go into stores wearing a mask. Just use some common sense."
"It's never a good idea to go around scaring people," he says. "Let the kids go out and have their fun, maybe the adults should save it for the weekend costume parties."