NYPD Officers Will Have to Shave Most Beards

By Monday June 17, New York City Police officers will have to shave their beards or trim them to very neat 1mm long. Goatees will be forbidden.

The updated facial hair policy, as reported by the New York Post , will apply to all police officers, school safety agents, and traffic enforcement agents as part of a department-wide effort to “ensure that all uniformed members of the service reflect the department’s high standards of professionalism.

The NYPD scaled back its facial hair requirements in 2020, following a class-action lawsuit filed by Masood Syed, a Muslim officer who was suspended for refusing to trim his 1-inch beard down to the department-mandated maximum.

Now the agency is shifting back to its old policy.

Mustaches and sideburns — mainstays on the faces of New York City cops since the department’s founding in 1845 — will still be allowed, but with limitations on length and style.