City police do about face on beard ban

Easing of regulations around facial hair serves to ‘modernize’ policy, official says

It could be a hairy new year for members of the Calgary Police Service.

Officers will be allowed to grow beards or goatees, following a recent update to the service’s personal appearance policy, marking a departure from its previous moustaches-only approach to members’ facial hair.

The change comes with certain regulations and safety precautions, including rules surrounding minimum and maximum length of beards, as well as the timing of when they are grown.

“In general, officers are permitted to have facial hair that is neat and well-trimmed between 0.5 cm and 2 cm in bulk,” a Calgary police spokesperson said Thursday.

Beards also can’t be grown while an officer is in uniform. Instead, the facial hair must be grown on off-duty time, such as a vacation or during days off.

“It really modernizes the policy and brings it in line with most other agencies in Alberta and Canada-wide, really,” said Calgary Police Association president John Orr.

“It was just one of those situations where back in the ‘70s when this policy was created, moustaches were all the fashion and beards were not.

“I think in this day and age, if you go to a barbershop, you’ll see a whole wall full of beard products. Wearing a beard is now more fashionable than it was decades ago when the policy was originally written.”

Orr said the police union had advocated for the change, but noted it wasn’t a “pressing” or “contentious” issue.

He said police services in Ontario have had more relaxed grooming guidelines since the 1990s, while Calgary also joins some of its counterparts elsewhere in Alberta in allowing officers more facial freedom.

In Edmonton, tighter restrictions remain, although members who do not work in uniform, such as detectives, may sport beards on the job.

“Beards, goatees and variations of these are not permitted to be worn by uniformed members, senior officers and members of Arson Unit,” that city’s policy states.

“A properly groomed moustache, which shall not extend more than 1.3 centimetres beyond the ends of the mouth, is the only acceptable form of facial hair.”

Last year, the RCMP began allowing its officers to grow beards for the first time, capping whisker length at 2.5 cm.

Other updates to the Calgary police personal appearance policy include tweaks to rules surrounding piercings and wearing jewelry.

Calgary police say that the minor changes make the updated guidelines “more inclusive, gender-neutral and non-culturally specific.”

Orr said the new rules are designed to ensure officers still look presentable on the job, meaning you won’t find stubble on any Calgary police officer.

“Nobody really wants our police officers to look unprofessional,” he said.

“They don’t want the scruff while they’re growing it.”