31 Cops Fined for Getting Haircuts

London officers breached the regulations they were supposed to be enforcing
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 26, 2021 6:20 PM CST
31 Cops Fined for Getting Haircuts
Metropolitan Police officers wear face masks as they patrol an anti-lockdown demonstration in Parliament Square in London, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020.   (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Dozens of Metropolitan Police officers had what turned out to be very expensive haircuts at a police station in east London earlier this month. The force says the 31 officers who had their hair cut while on duty at Bethnal Green station will be fined 200 pounds each, around $275, and the two officers who organized the session with a professional barber will be investigated for misconduct, CNN reports. Barbers and hairdressers are banned from operating during Britain's national lockdown, and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick recently announced that police would be cracking down on rule-breakers.

The officers' commander, Detective Chief Superintendent Marcus Barnet, said it was "deeply disappointing and frustrating" that they had breached the regulations they were supposed to be enforcing. "Although officers donated money to charity as part of the haircut, this does not excuse them from what was a very poor decision. I expect a lot more of them," Barnett said, per the Guardian. "Quite rightly, the public expect police to be role models in following the regulations which are designed to prevent the spread of this deadly virus." He said he hopes the fines and misconduct investigation will prove "that police are not immune to enforcement of the rules." (More United Kingdom stories.)

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