Police told to cover up their tattoos

Although "body" art is acceptable for footballers and pop stars, police chiefs have ordered officers to hide their tattoos under full-length sleeves after reports of crime victims being alarmed by "thuggish-looking cops."

Half of Scotland's eight forces – Tayside, Grampian, Fife and Lothian and Borders – have now announced a crackdown on tattoos, saying they would also no longer recruit anyone with markings on their face or neck.

The long-sleeved summer shirts are aimed at ensuring existing police "tats" stay well out of view even in the warmest weather.

Until now Scottish police forces have considered existing body art on a "case-by-case basis", only usually turning down recruits, for example, if they had offensive, racist or sectarian mark inked into their skin. Strathclyde, Northern, Central and Dumfries and Galloway said they would continue with this policy at present.

But Inspector Douglas Winter, of Tayside Police, said the four east coast forces have "collectively decided that tattoos of any kind, other than for religious or faith reasons, on faces or necks are unacceptable".

The decision has met a mixed response from serving officers. One police officer said: "This is a really tricky one for us. On the one hand, we want to be a service that reflects the society that we police and loads of people have got fancy body art thanks to David Beckham and all those other tattooed celebrities.

"On the other hand, there are still plenty of people out there who associate tattoos with criminals and not cops."

The Lothian and Borders branch of the Scottish Police Federation is opposing the move. Branch secretary Jackie Mullar said: "Like it or loathe it, body art is here to stay. We think it is pretty draconian to make people cover tattoos up unless they are offensive."

Tattooists said demand was high from serving officers and potential recruits as wearing tattoos was now more socially acceptable at many levels of society.

Jared Sanders, who runs Tribal Body Art on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, said: "We always warn people that tattoos can have an effect on your chances of getting certain jobs.

"We are always careful to tell people who want to go into the police that they could have problems, especially after forces changed their uniform to short-sleeved shirts."

Tribal Body Art, like many studios, won't tattoo faces and has imposed its own ban on tattoos anywhere visible for the under-25s, or on anything at all political, racist or sectarian. "We recently had to help a guy remove an Ulster political tattoo because he wanted to join the police," Sanders said.

Aileen Campbell, Scotland's youngest MSP, said policy on tattoos was best left up to the "judgement" of police, saying new officers need to have an "authoritative presence".

One in three Britons is said to have a tattoo. Ironically, this has helped the police identify suspects as "decorated" bodies are easier to identify.