The NYPD is going back to a stricter policy when it comes to the facial hair and uniforms of police officers, according to a new video obtained by The Post.
The video shows Chief of Patrol John Chell talking to members of department brass during a CompStat meeting at One Police Plaza last week.
“Uniform changes are coming rather quickly,” Chell tells the bosses in the video. “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,” he says.” We’re going to bring back some traditions that we kind of lost in the past couple years.”
The NYPD has relaxed its facial hair and uniform rules over the years.
One longtime cop said he thinks the changes are needed.
“It’s absolutely ludicrous that you have an officer with pink hair and nails longer than their fingers,” the Manhattan cop said. “We’re a police department not a hip hop department. Let’s go back to being police officers.”
Retired NYPD sergeant Joseph Giacalone, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said he was also in support of the move.
“It’s about a sense of pride,” he said. “This is absolutely a necessary aspect about 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.”
