Officers welcome replacement to ‘out-of-date’ tattoo policy

Officers should be allowed to have inoffensive visible tattoos under new national guidance.

The College of Policing has told forces certain tattoos should be acceptable in an attempt to standardise policies across the country – some of which included automatic bans.

The guidance states forces should consider a tattoo’s “size, nature and prominence” when deciding if an officer should be allowed to have it on show.

Tattoos that are discriminatory, offensive or contradict values in the Code of Ethics will automatically be deemed unacceptable.

The standards follow a campaign by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), which published research showing 81 per cent of people are not concerned about tattooed officers.

Victoria Martin, who led the work for the PFEW, said “out-of-date” policies had prevented forces representing the communities they served.

She continued: “One of the biggest issues we faced is the way some forces view officers and potential new recruits with tattoos – some forces will not accept a person with a tattoo that cannot be covered by uniform.

“This approach is significantly restricting the pool of potential talent, as one in five 18-29-year-olds has a tattoo.

“In 30-39-year-olds it’s one in four, while according to our survey 48 per cent of officers have a tattoo.”

The new guidance, published on Monday (August 7), advises officers to consider how a tattoo will be perceived before deciding to get a new one.

Force policies have previously been based on guidance from the Home Office, which said “officers should not have tattoos which could cause offence”.

However, the PFEW argued that this advice was being interpreted differently across England and Wales.

Some forces reportedly banned officers from having any visible tattoos, requiring them to cover the designs with long sleeves even in hot weather or while wearing body armour.

Last December, former Sussex Police officer Louisa Baker described how she was left “heartbroken” on learning that a small tattoo of a star behind her left ear would prevent her returning to work after leave.

Mrs Baker claims the force did not even meet her to see the tattoo’s size, but automatically decided that it was unacceptable.

A College of Policing spokesperson said: “The college has this week published new national guidance to help forces across England and Wales to take a consistent approach to appearance standards for officers and staff.

“The document aims to provide a clear and comprehensive guidance on appearance to present a professional image, achieve and maintain standards and also allow for a level of self-expression.”