Tattoos? No Problem. Orlando Police Welcomes You To Apply

ORLANDO, Fla. – By all accounts, James Baker — immediately recognizable by his hulking 6 toes, 5 inches body, bulging biceps and tattoo-covered arms — is an efficient police officer inside the Orlando Police Division’s Neighborhood Patrol Unit (NPU).

The unit is tasked with attending to know neighbors in areas of excessive crime to construct belief and generate suggestions.

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However the Orlando Police Division virtually by no means got here to know Baker — due to his tattoos.

If the division’s coverage wouldn’t have allowed Baker to point out his tattoos on his arms when he utilized for the job, he “most likely would have reconsidered.”

Baker’s arms are filled with artwork, he mentioned.

“My tattoos are impressed by totally different motion pictures and TV reveals and cartoons that I liked rising up within the 80s – the Joker from ‘Batman,’ ‘Ninja Turtles,’” Baker mentioned. “It’s a type of expression. Lets you know what I’m into. And what I take pleasure in. Reveals you that I’m a traditional individual and I’ve related pursuits as a daily individual strolling round.”

Chief Orlando Rolon mentioned after two years of making an attempt to replace the division’s coverage on tattoos, he lastly succeeded.

“It was that something beneath the sleeve couldn’t be proven,” Rolon mentioned. “Lots of people are coming into the occupation with tattoos on their arms or our bodies. I don’t know the precise share however I can inform you it’s a really excessive share, not simply cops however firefighters, the navy.”

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Division coverage used to require officers cowl up their tattooed arms with sleeves.

“We’re reflection of the group we serve, we’re hiring individuals from the group that we’re serving,” Rolon mentioned. “So we now have to remain on prime of the altering traits and that is what I consider was a straightforward choice.”

It is just the most recent division coverage overhaul, after permitting facial hair and extra relaxed uniforms.

“I wager you that we misplaced a number of alternatives to rent officers who’re very pleased with their tattoos that that they had gotten over time,” Rolon mentioned. “Sadly as a result of the local weather right here could be very humid, it’s very popular, to ask them to put on lengthy sleeves or sleeves over there tattoos most likely made a distinction of their choice to go elsewhere. So we do consider this may assist with our recruitment efforts.”

Baker mentioned there’s one other profit to the tattoo coverage replace: displaying his tattoos makes him much more efficient.

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“When individuals don’t see you as a robotic or only a cookie-cutter individual, they’ll see that you simply do regular individuals stuff and so they’re extra inclined to speak to you and be relaxed,” Baker mentioned. “I’ve been out at locations the place there’s youngsters there and so they see me with the tattoo and so they’re like, ‘Oh you’ve tattoos you’re fairly cool,’ simply primarily based on that they assume I’m cool. I’m only a common man and impulsively now not only a uniform.”

Rolon mentioned the new policy is still strict about what types of tattoos officers can have. There’s a vetting course of for questionable tattoos to confirm {that a} tattoo on a candidate or one which an officer is considering getting is acceptable.

And the brand new coverage does have a restrict: tattoos can’t be seen beneath the wrist cuff (fingers) or above the neck collar. However similar to how the previous coverage advanced, Rolon mentioned this new one could evolve once more within the years to return.