I’ve recently grown a moustache. Not entirely sure why. i think I’d like to maybe wax it and twirl it so I could look like Snidely Whiplash or Salvador Dali. Plus it’s just about the only facial hair formation I haven’t tried yet. Plus my girlfriend’s out of town.
Reaction from my peers has been mixed at best. Not too many 23 year old white guys in new york city sporting moustaches these days. And that got me thinking about moustaches. And now I wander the streets of New York, noticing each moustache that goes by.
Pretty popular with blacks and Puerto Ricans… again, just not too many young white guys sporting a moustache. And then I noticed. Cops. (And cowboys I guess, but not too many cowboys in New york either.)
So, do any dopers know any cops or have any family who are cops or are cops who can clue me into this. Is there a secret policeman-moustache rite of passage? Is it some weird signal? Why oh why are moustaches so “in” for policemen?
And quit saying I look like a plumber form a 1974 porn movie.
Didn’t you know? Moustaches are a must for all newbee cops. At the accademy, you’re not allowed to shave facial hair. This is even true for female cops.
Seriously, moustaches are supposed to make one look more powerfull and authorative. A police officer’s job often requires an authorative appearance. The uniform is designed with this in mind. Even the cap is meant to make a cop look taller and sterner. A moustache just completes the picture.
One reason may be that they aren’t allowed to grow beards in most police deparments. In fact, facial hair is often tightly regulated, so instead of experimenting with goatees, beards and sideburns, like most men do at some point of their lives, they’re stuck with moustaches.
From Denver’s WESTWORD, February 1997:
By the way, I’ve noticed that hockey players and fire fighters often wear moustaches too. Does it have something to do with machismo, or what? Male-dominated lines of work, all of them.
They’re popular in the military too. Again, it’s the only form of facial hair allowed. So, it’s a rare chance at self expression. They’re funny to see on the nineteen-year-olds. They look like molester moustaches without the classic mullet. I’d never wear one myself without a full beard, which isn’t allowed.
so no hair on the head (or at least having a shaved head) means having hair on the face? at least that is what maryland state troopers are popular with.
The only facial hair they are allowed to wear is a mustache. No beards, goatees, van dykes, et al–just a mustache or a cleanly shaven face. As a result, they often have mustaches because it’s the only other alternative. aegypt also mentioned this and provided an appropriate citation.
My qualifications? I dated a paramedic, who’d previously been an EMT, and whose brother was a cop. Both had mustaches, at least for part of the time I was dating paramedic-guy.
Could be just scuttlebutt, but I understand military pilots are similarly restricted. A mustache cannot extend beyond the ends of the lips, and beards are strictly out, simply because an oxygen mask must fit tightly onto bare skin to be effective. That enforces some strict similarity of appearance among pilots who so indulge, and that in turn could produce some peer pressure among other military people even if they don’t have to wear masks.
A very high percentage of police and firefighters (in the US, anyway) are ex-military because of Civil Service hiring preferences. Their own traditions as well as their own occasional mask-wearing requirements might keep the military/police/etc. mustache style popular.
My dad wore a moustache almost all of his time on the fire department (26 years), and I asked him once about the propensity of fire fighters wearing them. The answer was the same as above. Not so much authority (in his case, at least), but facial hair below the lipline could melt/catch fire in extreme heat, so they weren’t allowed to wear anything besides a moustache.
Firefighters are restricted to trimmed mustaches so they can have a good seal on oxygen masks. Generally, you need a note from a doctor to demonstrate that you suffer from folliculitis in order to grow a beard.
Hah! When i lived in MA the Mass turnpike signs all had pictures of pilgrim hats with an arrow through them (nice little PC statement in itself). We all used to say that the state cops should have to wear those hats so you’d at least get a good laugh while receiving your speeding ticket.
I agree with all the regulations on facial hair. I also see the macho “I wanna look manly” side of it too. Many rent-a-cop type security guards wear mustaches; most of the ones I’ve seen tend to be shorter middle-aged guys who are starting to get fat; I dunno, maybe trying to look more authoritative to compensate for their declining physical abilities. I notice most (white) guys with moustaches around here tend to be older (>30) and chubby.
To see an example of the diff facial hair makes on a guy looking more “in charge”, look at the Star Trek tng series and that dude ?Riker?. With a goatee he looks the part; clean shaven he looks like a goofy overgrown child (a little baby-faced). Or check out Chuck Norris in some of his first movies. Then again, some guys just like moustaches; my brother has had one since he was about 15 - I’ve never seen him without it since (he’s over 30 now). I guess perhaps cops don’t necessarily want to be seen as normal nice guys next door (especially when dealing with a crook); they might want to distinguish themselves from the norm a bit, and look authoritative. Moustaches help.
