Statistically, more and more people are acquiring tattoos. According to Statistic Brain Research Institute, the 21,000 tattoo establishments dotting the American landscape aggregate a whopping $1.65 billion “in profit annually,” charging between $45-$150 an hour. Shoulditattoo.com published excerpts from a 2015 Harris Research Poll which purports millenials’ “adoption of tattoos has been unprecedented in history. Almost half (47%) of Americans age 18 to 29 had at least one tattoo. There are decidedly wide variations in these numbers with tattoos as you travel the country with urban and rural areas having 35% and 33% respectively, and suburbanites having a much lower 25%. Of the people with tattoos, 7 out of 10 have more than one and 2 out of 10 have 6 tattoos or more.” Ink, ink and more ink.
The more the merrier, as far as the cops are concerned.
Permanent pigment is a consideration for consumers who make their unique design choices and don ink forever. That same forever-art aids investigators’ attempts to identify suspects and land them behind bars. Much like fingerprints tying a suspect to a crime scene, tattoos are just as instrumental in that regard, at least in terms of identifying bad guys/gals who commit crimes, getting nabbed because of the rather permanent markers tatted upon their person.
This is nothing new, to be sure, but the rampancy in tatted individuals lends an unwitting link to police officers seeking the probable-cause pieces to make the case. And that is exactly what happened in Arizona recently, when Phoenix police detectives looking for a murder suspect got their man after intel indicated the perpetrator had certain tattoos which, when searched in a police intel database, spit out the name of a previously arrested male. Thanks to tattoos, Phoenix cops now had an ID which led to the arrest of a homicidal maniac who took life in a public park. His tats were noticed which ultimately led to his arrest.
As Phoenix police Sergeant Tommy Thompson said, “It does seem there are more tattoos than ever and those help us identify suspects at times.”
A recent episode of “LiveTV” showed a female shoplift suspect detained/interviewed in a big-box retailer in a shopping mall. Suspecting she was lying about her identity and, of course, denying placing merchandise in her oversized and formerly empty purse, one law enforcement deputy looked at the tattoos on her forearms (handcuffed behind her back). There in big, bold tattoo-green letters was a female name. She saw the deputy looking as he pointed the tat out to his patrol zone partner who, from a pad upon which he wrote down her alleged name she gave verbally (they often have no ID with them), asked her for her name again. That deputy smirked as he awaited a reply. The suspected female thief looked down and had an impromptu silent pow-wow with her shoes. When asked about the name on her arm, she stuttered and flubbed a quick answer. Blah-blah-blah. Ding-ding! We have a winner! Thank you for playing. That also got her an additional charge for providing a false name to police.
I’ll bet the above sticky-fingered winner is one of what Statistic Brain quantified in terms of tattoo regret:”Although tattoos have become a popular trend, 17 percent of Americans feel some regret after getting a tattoo, and 11 percent are getting or have had one removed.” Per the Harris Research poll, their data in 2015 “shows the number [of those regretting tattoos] going from 14 percent in 2012 to 23 percent in the most recent studies.” Too bad for that bunch.
The Tattoo Connection claims roughly 45 million Americans have at least one tattoo. Of those, the criminals are flagged and they can’t do much about it either. Removal cost tons. And even if one can afford it, the irregular pigment becomes yet another oddity for police to look for, certainly after a victim happens to notice such distortions.
Tatted criminals who have illegally crossed our border are not counted among those 45 million U.S. citizens. MS-13 anyone? Although MS-13 members have the proverbial “MS-13” tattoos somewhere on their body, many other tats can differentiate between members, providing incriminating evidence for cops to pillar their cases.
Writing for azfamily.com, Ryan Simms reports that, “Nationally, tattoos are now second only to fingerprints when it comes to identifying suspects.” Naturally, other concrete methods entail time and effort spent by scientists in forensic labs which, depending on staffing levels and caseload, can take weeks and sometimes months. No cop wants to neither hear about delay in identifying potential suspects nor the stale reasons often proffered—anemic budgets, understaffing, large caseloads, etc.
Police agency gang units notoriously chronicle gang members’ specific identifying details. Back in the day, cops carried “FI” (field interview) cards containing a self-explanatory section in which “Scars, Marks, Tattoos?” beckoned such details, precisely describing a particular person’s unique body features. Nowadays, the information is keyed directly into an in-car laptop after a street cop notes specifics about an individual with whom he/she conferred. Also somewhat common among present-day citizens are body piercings. Although such attachments are removable, suspects arrogantly not expecting to get caught likely will not possess the foresight to remove body piercings. How does that help police looking for a particular phantom whose crime left behind victims/witnesses providing suspect details? It is one more circumstantial feature via which law enforcers can narrow any pool of contenders and zero-in on a bad guy. Exposed piercings are quite noticeable to crime victims and witnesses.
During my career, I had the occasion to have a victim, a spawned lover of a domestic violence suspect who fled after the battering, describe where his “tin” piercings were, right after I asked that “scars, marks, tattoos” portion regarding descriptors. She readily replied “Yeah, his dumbbell…his, you know, down there, he has a silver piercing.” Non-sophistication poured from my mouth because I was not all-knowing as a rookie cop: “A what?” Right there in her driveway, I was schooled about alternate choices in body-art collecting. Translation, (ahem)…his Peter had a metal pedal in/through it, apparently in the form of a weightlifter’s dumbbell, miniaturized. She elaborated, “Oh, and he has one in his lower lip and above his right eye, silver bars.” Great, at least some are visible. Must be sorta vaudevillian at the airport screening stations. Who remembers to undo that kinda stuff in advance anyway?
Nevertheless, for what it is worth, the more detail the better for law enforcement officers to catch the quarry, tats, dumbbells and whatever else may be festooned to the human form.
Lest we forget those warm and fuzzy tat collectors who expose their love for the police with inked sentiments upon their arms or legs or wherever. “F*@k the police” is inviting for a cop. Besides that particular tat being seen on a suspect which, along with other descriptors, can be a perfect match, it also telegraphs he will likely have keen designs to fight the police. Good to know in advance, enabling preemptive measures.
One of our regular auto burglars who always frequented the local 7-11 in my patrol zone had a street name of “Big Bird.” He stood 6-7, like a lanky bamboo stick on stilts, bending ever-so-slightly when he walked or leaned. Big Bird had tons of pride and little cellular muscle in his cranium space. He loved to show off his “Big Bird” tattoo on his left wrist. He also enjoyed boasting about his life of crime and flaunted property theft as his vessel to sustain himself. Particularly thought it funny to rip-off others while they slept. At the time, I didn’t know any of what you just read; I was a rookie with a field training officer (FTO) beside me…showing me how to be an effective policeman.
A call came over the radio regarding several residents/victims in a subdivision in my assigned zone: multiple auto break-ins. As the newbie, I knew that meant a slew of reports, the proverbial mundane side of police work. As the FTO knew, the usual suspects were likely out and about (all the victims claim they heard glass breakage within minutes of calling 9-1-1 at around 04:15 a.m.), so I was instructed to process the crime scene(s) so we could then go look for local dregs loitering at 24-hour businesses…like 7-11 and such. I drove our cruiser to the Circle K and saw a human string-bean who appeared to be in his early twenties with one lanky leg up against the side wall of the business. His face had a glazed look and he smirked at us and waved. “There we go. Let’s see what he is up to,” my training officer directed. He had a confident smirk on his face before he exited the cruiser. I watched the hands and mannerisms of the Bird, academy training ringing loudly in my head.
I made contact with Big Bird. He was seemingly intoxicated and way too happy to explain who he was. Especially when he got to the part about his moniker, how his friends called him. He said, “See, Big Bird,” then stooped and mildly chuckled…until he realized he was trickling crimson. Blood. His solid-green bold-lettered tattoo of “Big Bird” on his wrist had been pitted by…glass shards? Perhaps from shattered car windows? The kind I just left behind a few streets over? The moral of this part of the story has to do with some individuals, especially those who cops meet on the streets, who have a penchant for and pride in tattoos. They wanna show it all off, and a keen cop will take precise note of the design, placement, colors, and any background which motivated one to acquire permanent art. As mentioned earlier, good police intel will include “scars, marks, tattoos” so as to make a potential connection down the road. Cops assigned to gang units practice this art of policing quite well, from which myriad cases are solidified from prior intel-gathering, contained those FI cards we mentioned.
I eventually learned my FTO knew Big Bird and his ways (hence his confident smirk when rolling up on a known auto burglar). Although it wasn’t Sesame Street, Big Bird was on my radar from thereon out. Couldn’t pin the auto burgs on him that night, either: “wasn’t me” responses and lack of eyewitnesses followed by latent prints deemed useless tallied a goose egg. However, I turned that role around when I became an FTO and had a rookie cop in my cruiser. History does repeat itself: Slew of auto break-ins? Let’s go get a net and look for Big Bird!
Like ’em or not, tattoos, albeit donned by bad actors, can be a force for good…and cops get to more assuredly sew up cases perpetrated by characters sporting “Mom,” skulls, and any manner of inked advertisement.
As to those who regret ever getting tattoos, I wonder how many had that feeling sink in after the police identified and nabbed them because of their unique ink. Either way, thanks for having interests in collecting art. Too bad it was on display at the crime scene. Tats are not as scientifically definitive as fingerprints but they can help cops close cases.
