Utah County deputies sporting beards to support charity
Utah County Sheriffs Department deputies pose for a photo with their beards in Spanish Fork, Monday, Oct. 24, 2016. The deputies are permitted, for the first time in 30 or more years, to grow out their facial hair at a price. To grow out their hair, they pay a donation of $50 that goes toward the Shop with a Cop program. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Utah County Sheriffs Department's Lt. Hodgson poses for a photo with their beards in Spanish Fork, Monday, Oct. 24, 2016. The deputies are permitted, for the first time in 30 or more years, to grow out their facial hair at a price. To grow out their hair, they pay a donation of $50 that goes toward the Shop with a Cop program. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Utah County Sheriffs Department deputy Max Morgan poses for a photo with their beards in Spanish Fork, Monday, Oct. 24, 2016. The deputies are permitted, for the first time in 30 or more years, to grow out their facial hair at a price. To grow out their hair, they pay a donation of $50 that goes toward the Shop with a Cop program. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Utah County Sheriffs Department deputy Tom Herrin poses for a photo with their beards in Spanish Fork, Monday, Oct. 24, 2016. The deputies are permitted, for the first time in 30 or more years, to grow out their facial hair at a price. To grow out their hair, they pay a donation of $50 that goes toward the Shop with a Cop program. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
Utah County Sheriffs Department's Lt. Hodgson poses for a photo with their beards in Spanish Fork, Monday, Oct. 24, 2016. The deputies are permitted, for the first time in 30 or more years, to grow out their facial hair at a price. To grow out their hair, they pay a donation of $50 that goes toward the Shop with a Cop program. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald
It’s the time of year when everyone’s finding any means possible to stay warm, and the Utah County Sheriff’s Office is no exception.
Since Oct. 4, Utah County deputies have been permitted to grow a goatee or beard to be worn through the end of the year.
But, it comes at a price.
Any deputy who wants to flaunt their facial fuzz must donate $50 each month to the Shop With a Cop program, a charitable organization which has helped thousands of needy children in Utah County since 1991.
Beards must be neatly-trimmed and shaped into either a goatee or groomed beard. No out-of-control crumb catchers allowed.
“We’ve always had a policy against having facial hair,” said Lt. Tom Hodgson, the deputy in charge of the Shop With a Cop program. “A bunch of my guys approached me and said, ‘Hey, we would be willing to donate money if we could grow out facial hair.’
From this simple suggestion came the current program of deputies having the right to bear beards.
Beards haven’t been allowed for deputies, excluding undercover officers, for nearly 30 years. The idea had been brought up before, typically around “No-Shave November.” But Sheriff Jim Tracy and other administrative deputies wanted a greater incentive to permit deputies to grow out goatees.
The relationship with the Shop With a Cop program was instrumental in lifting the beard ban.
“We all know and have witnessed the remarkable results this event has had over the years helping hundreds of children every year who otherwise would not have a happy holiday season,” Tracy said in a press release. “In an effort to meet the cost to support the ever-increasing numbers of needy children, I am authorizing the suspension of the facial hair policy in exchange for donations to this program.”
Even female deputies have jumped on the beard bandwagon. No, they haven’t grown out their own lip sweaters, but many have donated freely to the Shop With a Cop program.
And the peach fuzz frenzy hasn’t gone unnoticed. Hodgson said one of his deputies made a traffic stop on a woman who commented on his beard. After explaining the program to her, the woman then made a donation to Shop With a Cop on the roadside.
“Even the public is getting in the spirit of things,” he said. “We want people to know why they’re seeing deputies with facial hair and what we’re doing.”
More information on the Shop With a Cop program will be made available closer to Christmas. In the meantime, look out for a ‘stache-sporting deputy to find out how to donate to the charity.
