1d ago

Why are police in the USA so heavily tattooed?

Seems like every time I see a US police officer on video they have full arm sleeves.

Is getting tattooed a bragging right in US police circles?

31 comments

Isn't everyone? I feel like nowdays I'm the rebel for not having any tattoos.
- Well, hello fellow rebel!
Everyone in the us these days is heavily tattooed. The stigma around it has faded and you even regularly see face tattoos now. Even pop stars are tatted up- something you never saw 20 years ago. There’s like a generation of guys walking around looking like post Malone now.
- Im Canadian and same, i had a Karen where I work get upset because I got a visible tattoo. She previously complained about my hair being too long for a man. That’s why we have laws that say that unless it’s an offensive tattoo, it’s not an issue, and unless it’s a health or safety concern, your hair is nobody’s business. So many of the “offensive or inappropriate” hairstyles turn out to be ethnic, so laws had to be put in place to protect people from these antiquated work policies
- Yeah this is another of those things that are so surprising to me. I got tattoos almost 40 years ago, and back then it was so countercultural, if another woman with tattoos saw mine, she would talk to me, it was a small club. I never would have dreamed that 25 years later my boss would be getting a shitty tattoo at the mall.
- As someone not tatted in the US: I'm happy the stigma is reduced or gone. I want people to get tats if they want them. But there's plenty of people without!
- Even then, "tough guy" culture includes "tough guy" tattoos, and cop is one of the top "tough guy" jobs, so there's a strong correlation there.
- Yep not that long ago employers wouldn't hire people with tattoos or piercings or wild colors of hair, but I guess it became so popular they had to change their standards.
- The stigma hasn't faded in the upper class.
  It's just the lower classes that value that sort of thing at a high rate.
  
  I’ve always had a theory that in the lower classes, tattoos also served as a form of displayed wealth. As in, “I can spend $750 to decorate my arm,” which can be a lot of money in some circles.
- Yeah it seems like at least half of people age 30 to 60 have tattoos in the the us
  
  I just don't get it, either. I can't even handle getting my blood drawn; fuck getting stabbed thousands of times a second, just for something that's going to fade and look like shit after 10 years but I'm stuck with for a lifetime. I can't think of a single image or phrase I like so much that I'd want it permanently embedded in my skin, regardless.
- I have a face tattoo! It's just a cute little tiny star on my cheekbone, but still.
They are gang members. Next! But seriously they are a cult. Look up blue badges or fraternity of police
Gang tattoos.
It's an interesting question... until not many years ago, you couldn't even be a police officer in the UK if you had visible tattoos.
I believe the rule now is they can't be "inappropriate" if visible.
I never noticed because they usually have long sleeves on their uniform and they don't usually have neck or face tats.
A lot of it comes from the fact that there’s a lot of retired military personnel that trying to police force. And a lot of military personnel have tattoos.
- And many of those who haven't been in the military but want to be cops fetishize the military, and then go get tattoos like the veterans they wish they were.
Tats aren't a problem these days.
- I never said it was.
  
  Point is they used to be, which is more likely why you saw less.
  Against dress codes, especially for public workers
- They're ugly, but not necessarily a problem.
Most people in the US are stupid, so they have convinced themselves to waste money on bullshit just because everyone else around them is doing it. It's easier for them to be interesting by spending money instead of, you know, actually being interesting.
Cops are obviously too stupid to rise above this influence.
- Your account is days old and you have 100 comments, mostly comprising of you being smug and shitting on people. Kind of super depressing, tbh.
- Don't cut yourself on all that edge.
- Source.
I'd bet they own far more Tapout shirts than average per-capita. Possibly the majority of all Tapout shirts, if you include all cops.
I honestly hadn't noticed this. I see it in ICE though
You see there was a lot of acid in the 90s and tattoos were cheap...
Body dysmorphia.

31 comments