A police union whose members are not shaving, wearing police caps or lanyards has added two further directives to its list, telling members to ditch their ties and not tie up their hair.

The two new instructions by the Police Officers Union come as an escalation to an ongoing dispute over deploying police officers to duties close to schools.

The union is arguing that officers should not be responsible for overseeing road closures while children are going to or leaving school. Such assignments are taking up time for around 70 officers every day, it says, and can be coordinated by local councils working with other entities.  

Its members were first told to stop shaving and stop wearing their police cap last September, when the dispute broke out.  It subsequently ordered members to stop wearing their police lanyards.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri met with union officials some weeks later to discuss the matter, with the union saying at the time that the minister would be “working to resolve the issue”.

But with no resolution six weeks down the line, the POU has upped the ante and said that its members will now also not wear a tie that forms part of the police’s winter uniform, while women members will not tie up their hair.

Apart from directives concerning members’ appearance, the union has also told officers stationed at police stations to stop providing services after 12pm.

The dispute is not the only one that the police force currently faces: a rival union, the Malta Police Union, is currently locked in a dispute with the force over deploying officers to have cars removed to make way for road works or closures.