Police Scotland drops plans to impose facial hair ban on officers

Police Scotland has dropped plans to ban its officers from having facial hair.

The ban was originally proposed to allow frontline officers and staff to wear close-fitting, medical grade FFP3 face masks.

Last year, the force postponed the implementation of the policy, stating it would review the position this year.

The proposed ban sparked controversy, particularly among officers who already had facial hair.

There are no plans to introduce these changes

Scottish Police Federation general secretary David Kennedy said on Friday: “The beard policy was a policy with no thought, no regard to equality and a draconian approach to common sense and proportionality in policing.”

Police Scotland has now confirmed it has no plans to introduce the ban.

A spokesperson said: “We postponed implementation of the policy in July 2023 after listening to our people and reviewing health and safety evidence.

“There are no plans to introduce these changes.”