Department Adjusts Personal Grooming and Appearance Standards Based on Input From Officers

Share this:

(Camden, NJ) – The Camden County Police Department has put in place new personal grooming and appearance standards that allow officers more options while maintaining a professional appearance.

The special order from Chief Joseph Wysocki replaces rules that had been unchanged for many years dating back to the former city police department.

Some of the changes include:

           

  • Female officers can now wear earrings (stud earrings only and not those that hang or dangle). Previously no jewelry of any kind was permitted above the shoulders.

 

  • A universal hair standard that applies to both male and female officers has been adopted, and this standard allows for wearing hair in braids, locks and short ponytails so long as the hair can be pulled back to above the top of the shoulder blades for uniformed officers and does not interfere with wearing headgear that is part of the police uniform. Previously, these hair styles were not allowed and there were different standards for male and female officers’ hair.

 

  • Female officers can now wear a broader range of nail polish and can have nails that extend slightly beyond their fingertips. Previously, female officers were restricted to only nail polish of natural colors and could not have nails that extended at all beyond the fingertip.

 

 

The new personal grooming and appearance standards were developed through discussions over the past several months with uniformed officers and detectives in the department and are designed to be more reflective of modern norms and styles while also helping with recruiting efforts. We want more young men and women thinking about a career as a police officer, and to not turn away from the profession because of overly stringent and dated grooming and appearance rules.

“The goal in updating these standards was to make sure that we maintain a professional look for our officers that is fitting for a police agency while allowing officers to be current and comfortable in the styles that fit them individually,” Chief Wysocki said. “And it was important for us to involve officers in the process of formulating these new standards so that the rules we have put in place are the best fit for our department.”