Does a tattoo reflect badly on a firefighter?
June 24, 2008 9:11 am Commentary
On the front page of today’s Los Angeles Daily News, there was a story about the new policy at the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Firefighters’ tattoos must be covered up at all times. Apparently, the LAFD brass thinks that tattoos are… unprofessional? Not the proper image that the department wants to project?
Tattoos must be covered in the firehouse as well, and according to the story they even have to be covered up while the firefighters are sleeping. Yeah, sure, the general public is keeping an eye on THAT.
This is the same fire department that recently paid out over a million bucks to settle a complaint about a practical joke. It seems to me that they’ve got their priorities way, way wrong. If I call the fire department, I don’t care what the firefighters look like while they’re dealing with the blaze. If they’re out doing presentations to school kids or in some other situation where image is king, OK, no problem, cover the ink. But it just seems to me that there are a lot more serious things the department ought to be putting on its worry list.
photo credit: kilt medic
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