By Joanna Putman
Police1
NEW YORK — The NYPD has changed its uniform policy and will no longer allow beards or loose collars, the New York Post reported.
“Uniform changes are coming rather quickly,” Chief of Patrol John Chell told NYPD brass in a meeting. “No more beards in about a week. No open collars in about a week. We’re going back to weather restrictions on knit caps.”
The move harkens back to longstanding traditions of the department that have been “kind of lost in the past couple years,” Chell said.
NYPD policy changed to allow beards as well as turbans in 2016 to accommodate the growing number of Sikh officers, according to the report. There will still be religious exemptions to the rules, according to a PIX 11 report.
The NYPD’s biggest union questioned the move, according to the Post report.
“The NYPD is understaffed by thousand of police officers and hundreds more are leaving every month,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said. “The department has much bigger issues to tackle. Is it really time to focus on beards and neckties?”
