Police officers with beards have been ordered to shave them off. Traffic officers were told last week to get rid of facial hair unless they had a medical or religious exemption.
Rules were introduced at the beginning of the pandemic demanding police to be clean shaven in order to have high-quality Covid masks fitted. But the requirement is understood to have fallen by the wayside as virus fears faded.
A source said: “Quite a few officers with beards of various lengths were not happy at a communication from the bosses last week that they would be expected to be clean shaven for their shift.
“It feels like a return to the appearance standards of old when officers had to be over 6ft tall with shoes shined and couldn’t have facial hair or tattoos. Tattoos are still allowed and this appears to be entirely to do with the Covid masks but it is still not popular with everyone.”
Rules on police having beards vary from force to force across the UK. In 2015 Gloucestershire Constabulary became the first to propose an outright beard ban. The Scottish rules apply to all response officers and specifically road policing officers.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “The welfare of officers and staff is paramount and we require road policing officers to wear appropriate face masks in certain circumstances, depending on the nature of the incidents they are dealing with.
“Officers are required to be clean shaven unless exempt for medical or religious reasons because these masks are
individually fitted for each user and require a secure seal to the face.”
Police Scotland rules from 2017 allowed officers to sport “established beards and moustaches”. Officers are expected to use hair gel “sparingly” and not to have sideburns below the lobe of the ear.
Tattoos are allowed as long as they aren’t on the face but they are expected not to be “inflammatory, rude, lewd, crude, racist, sexist, sectarian, homophobic, violent or intimidating”.
Calum Steele, of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “The Police Federation is supportive of this rule. It is there to protect the public and the officers.”
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