Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cops and tattoos.

No. No, you are not based on your quote.

I said $40 a year ago. Was $37.85.

I've been retired seven years (thank God) worked KC metro to western MO. The standard generally was no tats which could not be covered by the uniform. Larger/more urban Depts dictate change dates for winter/summer uniforms and a few were beginning to permit long sleeves year round, if required to comply with 'personal appearance' policy.

Male officers assigned to Uniform Patrol were allowed a 'neatly trimmed moustache not extending more than 1/4" below the corners of the mouth'. Plainclothes officers could wear a beard 'if approved by the Investigations Division Commander' etc.

Now I see officers/deputies with big guts, scraggly beards and a foot of ink hanging out the sleeves of their Class As or, more often now, polos &.BDUs. I've seen them with neck tats. Some look more like carneys than cops.

Time marches on and societal norms change right along with it. Whether I like it or not hardly matters. I'm just glad to be out of the biz. Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Another factor is the Ferguson Effect, which changed everything. A lot of good candidates, genuinely were interested in a LE career, watched that schidt-show and said 'Fugg it." The number of applications we received, for open police officer positions, plummeted. The overall quality of applicants also declined. 3rd stringers, who couldn't get an interview before, are now making the final selection pool and some are getting hired.

I was an LEO for 33 years. We weren’t allowed to have sleeve tattoos, beards, or long hair. A couple years ago Columbus hired a female chief from Detroit. Now anything goes. I thinks beards look unprofessional in a uniform. Sleeve tattoos in a uniform make you look thuggish. Just my opinion.

Ron