Out with the new, in with the old.
The NYPD is going back to its “old school” ways when it comes to facial hair and uniforms, according to the New York Post.
The Post obtained a video that shows NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell informing members of the department of the upcoming changes.
“No more beards in about a week. No open collars in about a week. We’re going back to weather restrictions on knit caps,” Chell told members of New York’s finest in the video.
“Basically, what I’m telling everybody in this room is, we’re going back old school,” Chell explained. ”We’re going to bring back some traditions that we kind of lost in the past couple years.”
The NYPD relaxed its facial hair and uniform rules in 2016, as a nod to the growing Sikh population of officers. The department said officers could wear beards and turbans in accord with their religious customs.
However, through the years, officers without religious exemptions starting growing beards, too.
Retired NYPD Sgt. Joseph Giacalone, who currently teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told local NYC media outlet WPIX that he welcomed the new policy. He also stated that religious exemptions will still be permitted.
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“They need to get back to that old-school mentality. It’s an important part of who you are as an NYPD officer,” Giacalone said. “If you look good and act good the public will respond in kind. If you don’t they will respond in the opposite way.”
The Post noted that the new policies had received mixed feedback.
“It’s absolutely ludicrous that you have an officer with pink hair and nails longer than their fingers,” one Manhattan officer said. “We’re a police department not a hip-hop department. Let’s go back to being police officers.”
“I like the knitted cap when it’s 32 degrees,” another said. “No one listens to us. No one cares anymore what we say. It is what it is. It is above my pay grade.”
“I am not getting rid of nothing,” a third officer said. “It’s for religious reasons.”
But should beards and knitted caps be at the top of the NYPD’s mind right now? The department is currently in the midst of a retention crisis, with over 2,500 officers leaving the force in 2023.
And let’s not forget that two NYPD officers were brutally attacked by a group of illegal immigrants on Jan. 24. One of the attackers infamously flipped the bird at reporters as he walked out of court, released without bail on Jan. 31.
So, no, the NYPD should not be focusing on beards and caps right now.
But, in a liberal run city, everything but the problem is worth focusing on. With a police department that doesn’t have its priorities in line, criminals have a cause for celebration.
Unfortunately, their jubilance makes sense. If criminals know that the police are more worried about how they look than the crimes they’re committing, they have a reason to cheerful.
In reality, instead of being concerned about their appearance, the NYPD should place its focus in two main areas: crime prevention and staffing. Only then will criminals actually have something to fear.
But even still, New York’s bail reform policies give criminals even less to fear as judges are given broad discretion to set bail to their liking. In a Democratic run city, this almost certainly means that many criminals will be released without bail.
To be fair, the NYPD reported a 3.0 percent reduction in crime year over year from October 2022 to October 2023.
But can the department count on these numbers continuing to drop, especially given the challenges the NYPD faces and the fact that illegal immigrants were allowed to beat police officers and then walk free?
Likely not. And if criminals become more emboldened, what’s to stop them from becoming more ambitious, further testing how far they can cross the line before the city finally pushes back?
It’s incredible that citizens cannot even count on police and the courts to prosecute crimes. Such a thought 30 years ago would have been unfathomable.
Liberal policies have turned one of America’s greatest cities on its head, where criminals are empowered, and the police are handicapped.
But the solution to the problem is not all that complicated and starts from within: Stop worrying about how officers look, and instead give them the ability to do their jobs.
