and indeed, most police departments in the US and the military will not hire people who have non-religious tatoos that would not be completely concealed by the uniform, or any tatoos suggestive of gang affiliation.
Where do you come up with this stuff?
I missed this gem the first read through.
If the military had an issue with tattoos, there would hardly be a member of the USMC, or — for that matter — all those cops who are veterans.
I stand by my point, and I can prove it from the official websites of the USAF and the LAPD.
The issue is with tatoos that are visible outside the sleeves of the uniform, for example, tatoos on tne forehead or the back of the neck. Tatoos on the upper arm are extremely common and are of course allowed by the military and police departments. Fleet Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey for example had a tatoo of an anchor on his left shoulder.
I once saw a woman who had a tatoo which cursed the reader thereof in the most extreme possible way, containing the F word, on the back of her neck, and this is obviously an example of a tatoo that would be disqualifying.
Here are the current USAF rules on tatoos, which were recently relaxed, but which are still quite strict, and which can even result in disqualification from the scarring resulting from tatoo removal:
https://www.airforce.com/how-to-join/prepare-for-success/meet-requirements (See Tatoos, brands and piercings)
And here you see the LAPD policy on tattoos, which completely prohibits tattoos which would be visible while the officer is on duty:
https://www.joinlapd.com/lapd-frequently-asked-questionsAll other tattoos are visible on a case-by-case basis. So certainly if someone has a typical Marine Corps “Semper Fi” tattoo in a place where their LAPD uniform would conceal it, that should be fine, but on the other hand if their forearms look like Ray Bradbury’s Illustrated Man, or if they have any tattoos that look like jailhouse or gang tattoos, the LAPD will probably disqualify them.
This is just the LAPD; I am sure we could find other police departments with more lax policies or indeed with stricter policies, if we really cared, but the beauty of the LAPD is that it is extremely typical of modern professional police departments and is a good “reference agency” for contemporary American police departments. And they have awesome-looking badges.