Montgomery First Responders Now Allowed Facial Hairs and Tattoos; Should Others Follow Suit?

Should facial hair and tattoos have any bearing on employment? Sure, there are laws that prevent discrimination in some cases, but should employers be allowed to deny a job to a person based on appearance preferences?

First responders in Montgomery will soon live by a whole new set of rules. Before now, police officers and firefighters were not allowed to have facial hair, and all tattoos had to be covered; but the Montgomery Public Safety Department enacted changes that would relax those guidelines, and first responders are now allowed to grow up to one inch of groomed facial hair. Story.

This change is said to possibly make the police department more attractive to prospective employees. The department is said to have 40 vacant positions.
It is highly likely that such issues have prevented qualified workers from obtaining certain jobs-- in companies that are understaffed! Seems like relaxing the rules would be a win-win in ever-evolving cultural acceptance.

Should other companies and government entities follow suit?