COPS BAN TATTOOS Exclusive: Police move on 'bad' look.
NSW Police are to be banned from sporting visible tattoos.
Serving officers already bearing prominent body art may be forced to cover up and wannabe recruits fronting at the Police Academy with visible tattoos will be turned away.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that a draft policy, being prepared for Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, is in the final stages of approval.
"This is about professionalsm, It's about proper discipline and how you carry yourself in public," Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy told the Sunday Telegraph. "Does the community want someone knocking on their door with a Mike Tyson tattoo on their face or next? I dont think so". "As an organisation we need to discuss whether what people place on their arms or bodys is a reflection on the NSW Police Force."
Mr Corby said his personal view was that anyone with a tattoo on their face or neck should not be allowed to become a police officer.
" We have to send a clear message to those joining that these are our expectations," My Corby said. "As for how we recruit, my position on facial tattoos is fairly solid, but the debate about letting people in with full-sleeve or arm tattoos is a debate we need to have."
His view have been echoed by Mr Carey, the head of the force's Professional Standards Command, who said he was managing two complaints about officers said to sport offensive tattoos. " One is a very recent complaint into a tattoo that some people deemed offensive," Mr Carey Said.
Another investigation, he said, he was looking at an "Improper association" that formed when an officer has a tattoo work done at a parlour. "There is the issue of where (officers) get tattoos done. In one case, the tattooist has connections with a criminal organisation and we had an association form (with the officer)...(so) we deemed that improper, that investigation is under way at the moment."
Other aspects of the policy deal with specific types of tattoos, including tribal tattoos which could be seen as "Culturally insensitive", Mr Carey said."There are (also) a lot of tattoos written in another lanuage, and who knows what they say? So that's something we also need to address."
Mr Carey said his view was that officers should have only tattoos that could be covered by clothing; any other visible ink was unacceptable. "People with tattoos on limbs and torsos can be covered but moving on to the neck, head and face-my view would be we don't want that look." A simple option for them is to cover up...(but) the extreme act of having a tattoo removed is something we'd have to consider aswell. I know there is at least one chap with a tattoo on the back of his neck; there's no complaint against that. However, i am investigating (another) very recent complaint into a tattoo (on an officer) that some people did deem offensive."