The present disclosure describes a looped pile static reduction roller (100, 200, 300), an apparatus (400) including the looped pile static reduction roller, and a technique to neutralize static and static patterns from a polymeric film surface during processing, to enable higher speeds and fewer defects during web transport. The looped pile static reduction roller includes a static reduction engagement cover (160, 260, 360) that is resilient and can facilitate discharge of static from the web to ground before, during, and after contact with a charged web (320, 420).