The New York Police Department (NYPD) has been considering returning its policy of requiring male officers to shave their faces clean and button up their collars.
In a video exclusively obtained by the New York Post, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told the force's top brass that he was proposing to make officers more similar in their appearance with the proposal of reinstating the policy of a clean-shaved face and more traditional uniforms.
"Uniform changes are coming rather quickly," Chell said. "No more beards in about a week. No open collars in about a week. We're going back to weather restrictions on knit caps. Basically, what I'm telling everybody in this room is we're going back old school."
Style vs. Purpose
The Post stated that the department relaxed its facial hair and uniform rules in 2016 to accommodate Sikh officers for religious purposes as long as their turbans were in the same blue shade the NYPD was using.
This, in turn, allowed other officers without religious exemption to grow beards as well.
The NYPD also allowed officers to wear warmer knit caps over the police hats during frigid weather, as well as making ties with uniforms optional or limited.
"It's absolutely ludicrous that you have an officer with pink hair and nails longer than their fingers," an officer from Manhattan told the Post. "We're a police department not a hip hop department. Let's go back to being police officers."
John Jay College of Criminal Justice adjunct professor Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD officer himself, also praised the move to limit facial hair and traditional uniforms.
"I was against all the beards," he added. "It's about a sense of pride. This is absolutely a necessary aspect of showing a good front to the community because I think once the cops look good that comes with a modicum of respect because people perceive if you look like a slob they treat you like one."
Reservations on Going 'Old School'
However, another Manhattan officer said he wanted to keep following the relaxed rules in at least one case.
"I like the knitted cap when it's 32 degrees," he said, referring to the Fahrenheit equivalent of 0 degrees Celsius. "No one listens to us. No one cares anymore what we say. It is what it is. It is above my pay grade."
"I am not getting rid of [anything]," another officer with a full beard insisted when asked about shaving his facial hair off. "It's for religious reasons."
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry also questioned if now was the time to focus on uniforms and personal grooming.
"The NYPD is understaffed by thousands of police officers and hundreds more are leaving every month," he said. "The department has much bigger issues to tackle. Is it really time to focus on beards and neckties?"
