Geneva police to lift ban on bearded officers
Canton Geneva police intend to fall into line with the rest of the country and lift a centuries-old ban on officers sporting beards, in a move likely to please hipsters.
The regulation that officers must turn up for work “freshly shaven and without a beard or long sideburns”, will be dropped when new regulations come into effect, the Swiss news agency SDA reported.
This will happen once the police head, Monica Bonfanti, has given the go-ahead, a spokesman said, confirming a report in the Tribune de Genève.
The paper wrote about the case of a Geneva policeman who was willing to go to court to have the right to wear a beard.
As a result, Bonfanti said she was prepared to look at the issue again as part of a police reorganization.
While allowing beards and moustaches, the new regulation will lay down maximum lengths and thicknesses, SDA said.
It comes two years after the Geneva parliament adopted a motion calling for the facial hair ban to be lifted.
Police in the canton made their displeasure clear in 2011 and 2014 when officers refused to shave in protest at the outdated regulation.
Geneva is the last canton to cling to the regulation, which dates back to Napoleonic times.
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The regulation that officers must turn up for work “freshly shaven and without a beard or long sideburns”, will be dropped when new regulations come into effect, the Swiss news agency SDA reported.
This will happen once the police head, Monica Bonfanti, has given the go-ahead, a spokesman said, confirming a report in the Tribune de Genève.
The paper wrote about the case of a Geneva policeman who was willing to go to court to have the right to wear a beard.
As a result, Bonfanti said she was prepared to look at the issue again as part of a police reorganization.
While allowing beards and moustaches, the new regulation will lay down maximum lengths and thicknesses, SDA said.
It comes two years after the Geneva parliament adopted a motion calling for the facial hair ban to be lifted.
Police in the canton made their displeasure clear in 2011 and 2014 when officers refused to shave in protest at the outdated regulation.
Geneva is the last canton to cling to the regulation, which dates back to Napoleonic times.
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