The Police Federation of England and Wales believe that the ban of tattoos on hands, neck and face should be lifted.
he Metro Police have banned officers from having tattoos visible on their face and hands since 2012, according to BBC.
Federation member Chief Inspector Vicki Martin says there needs to be a “sensible conversation” about tattoos.
“There’s a lot of women are now having very small tattoos on their neck, and if you’ve got a woman that’s got a small heart tattooed behind her ear, it’s something that you probably wouldn’t even notice,” she said. “So why are we just saying that we’re not even going to look at your application, because that might be a very talented individual that we would want in the service.”
While Chief Inspector Martin found that the current regulation “appears on face value to be quite sensible,” she claims some agencies are taking it too far.
“The issue we’ve got is a number of forces are interpreting it differently and some are becoming very strict and I think it’s actually becoming a bar to some really good people joining the service.”
Martin went on to say that even high-level figures such as former Prime Minister David Cameron’s wife, Samantha Cameron, have tattoos that are visible during official functions.
“People sometimes have tattoos and don’t think about the consequences of them in the future. That’s why it’s time we actually ask the public what they think and make sure that we haven’t got policies in place based on what we think the public think, rather than what they actually do think.”
The Federation says it seeks only standardization.
“We are calling for a modern, consistent national approach to tattoos to be adopted across the police service. [The federation] believes that if the police service truly wants to embrace diversity and widen the talent pool it recruits from, then forces need to be more open-minded, so communities have a police service that reflects today’s society.”
However, not everyone agrees. Former policeman and Member of Parliament Byron Davies says that “The whole point of having a uniform is it’s a distinctive set of clothing. If you start adding to it with tattoos on arms, or particularly on the hand or neck, where people can see the ex-wife or the husband’s details, then some people might find that offensive.”
A Metro Police spokesman said that We expect our officers and staff to maintain a high standard of personal appearance and dress that reflects the role being performed. This supports the reputation of the Metropolitan Police Service as a professional and globally respected policing service with Londoners, visitors to London and tourists.”
“Where officers or staff have tattoos that cannot be covered by everyday clothing (i.e. on the face, above a collar line and on the hands) it is a requirement that they register such tattoos as a formal written declaration to their line manager.”
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