NYPD rules crackdown on beard length, time sheets and more has cops crying foul
The NYPD has decided to crack down on its already-thinning, overworked ranks by rooting out cops who grow their beards too long, drink coffee on the job and don’t empty their garbage cans quickly enough, The Post has learned.
The burgeoning effort to police the police – ordered up by Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell – is being led by the Standards and Assessment section of the two-month old Professional Standards Bureau, according to the NYPD.
“If somebody is non-compliant with the beard procedure – they’ll look into that,” said Chief Kevin Maloney, commander of DCPI. “It’s really anything the cops are supposed to adhere to … their job is to make sure they’re doing that. It’s just enforcing the rules.”
In addition to making sure cops don’t grow their beards past the departmental limit of one-quarter of an inch, the section is tasked with investigating improprieties such as officers who keep inaccurate memo books, tint their windows too dark on their personal cars or fail to comb their hair properly.
The unit — led by Inspector Robert O’Hare — will also make sure cops wear their body cameras on the right piece of clothing, update roll calls promptly, show up on time and don’t leave their posts early.
Officers who cross the sergeants and lieutenants assigned as monitors will either get a warning or be hit with command disciplines, or internal write-ups that could lead to lost vacation time, up to five to 10 days in the worst cases.
And that’s been happening at precinct roll calls throughout the city — though the NYPD declined to say how many command disciplines it had issued so far.
One example would be a cop showing up for a detail without their hat, an NYPD spokesman said.
“Everybody should look professional,” Maloney told The Post.
Cops said the new initiative, which was made official on Jan. 17, has left them stuck somewhere between an eye roll and an outright rebellion.
“It’s pathetic – everybody’s talking about it,” said one Brooklyn cop, a 20-year veteran. “Guys are saying they’ve never seen morale so bad. The attitude is [the bosses] want to get you for something … Why would you go above and beyond to do anything at this point?”
According to another officer, some of New York’s Finest have been taking it with a dose of dark humor, dubbing the new unit the “suicide squad” because it is “the type of s–t” that pushes cops to the brink.
“Like we don’t have enough stress,” the officer said. “I’m already never seeing my family and you’re taking more time away from me? It’s a very stressful situation.”
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the new inspections will only worsen “the NYPD’s historic staffing crisis.
“It is absolutely mindboggling that monitoring beard length and sock color are the NYPD’s top priorities right now,” said Lynch.
“New York City police officers can’t pay their bills. They never get to see their families. They are battling every day against perps who have no fear and a justice system that delivers no consequences,” he added.
The department has remained unapologetic.
“Follow the rules, you have no problems,” a police spokesman said. “It seems simple enough … We can’t have a double standard.”
The brass’s decision to drop the hammer on the rank-and-file comes at a particularly fraught time – the NYPD is facing a historic shortage of officers as cops continue to turn in their badges at an alarming rate.
The NYPD roster of 33,822 uniformed cops is already 1,208 below the budgeted headcount, The Post reported last week.
During January and February of this year, 239 officers resigned – a 36% spike from the 176 who left during the same span in 2022. And it’s a shocking 117% higher than 2021’s numbers, according to NYPD pension data.
But the numbers track with last year’s mass exodus: New York’s finest lost 3,701 cops to retirement or resignation in 2022, the most since 3,846 left the year after 9/11.
Cops say it’s not just the light paychecks or department politics that are to blame. One source previously told The Post that cops are being forced to work an “inhumane amount of overtime,” which includes sacrificing their days off.
The standards bureau’s crackdown is unlikely to help stem the tide.
Precinct supervisors were sent a memo by higher ups in recent weeks alerting them of the new unit, according to police sources.
The memo warned that cops working Friday’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade should be particularly fastidious — because O’Hare’s eagle-eyed teams will be watching to ensure they’re “properly uniformed, with presentable shoes, clothing and properly groomed including hair and facial hair.”
They’ll also be scouring waste baskets — the memo states “teams will check to ensure there isn’t garbage overflowing and littered about on all levels of the command.”
Especially vulnerable will be late tours and weekends, which are “more likely to be unkempt,” according to the memo, obtained by The Post.
The monitors will also review bodycam footage from 311 calls, as well as overtime requests for crime reduction posts and individual officer’s memo books documenting their break times and location.
“This is the supervisor’s responsibility to inspect the cop’s memo books for these details, and they will be held responsible along with the cops if deficiencies are found,” the memo said.
Officers say this will only force more burned-out officers to drop from the ranks.
“They’re just adding on the stress, so people are saying f–k it and leaving,” one source said. “Punish, punish. I always hear the frustration and [that they’re] looking for new jobs.”
