With blessing from bosses, Anchorage cops grew mustaches for ‘Movember’

Things at the Anchorage Police Department got a little hairy this month.

Possibly for the first time ever, APD has relaxed its formal grooming standards for Mustache November, or "Movember" — an annual practice of growing out facial hair for a month to draw attention to men's health issues, like prostate cancer.

Almost all of the officers who showed up to work the 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. shift this week — more than two dozen — had a mustache.

"Like a Fu Manchu with a couple of bells on it," said officer Gabriel Brown, describing his mustache, which ran down both sides of his lips.

Grooming standards help the agency maintain a "uniform, neat, presentable" public image, said spokeswoman Nora Morse. Beards and goatees aren't allowed. Normally, mustaches have to be short, neat and regularly trimmed. But last month, an email went out from commanders, saying there would be some wiggle room in the mustache policy during November.

APD Chief Justin Doll (who has stayed clean-shaven) said his administration is okay with letting officers participate in Movember to promote men's health.

"It's also a fun excuse for them to grow wildly inappropriate mustaches," Doll said.

There are a lot of younger cops working what's known as the "swing shift," and many were happy to take the excuse. On Tuesday, the group stood outside APD headquarters, kidding each other about whose mustache was the least visible.

Brown, who has been at APD for a year and a half, noted that the email from his bosses didn't specify just how much mustache an officer could have.

"So I decided to push the envelope a little bit."

His wife hates it, he said. But by Dec. 1, it's all supposed to be gone. Brown said he'll miss his face being warm.