How Criminal Offenders Perceive Police Officers' Appearance: Effects of Uniforms and Tattoos on Inmates' Attitudes

Both, the number of people wearing visible body modifications, e.g., tattoos, and their acceptance in society have been significantly increased. Thus, rules and regulations of German police officers' appearance prohibiting to show tattoos during police services are challenged. Basically, such standards aim to minimize risk factors in police service and to maximize safety at work, thus fostering police operations and finally promoting a favorable image of the police organization. Within the scope of the "Police Officer Appearance"-project (2016-2018) of the Rhineland-Palatinate Police University, we aimed to answer the question how police officers in uniform with visible tattoos are evaluated by others. Within a sub-project, we focused on an important target group in police services: criminal offenders. While previous studies found evidence that wearing a uniform was associated with more favorable ratings of police officers as compared to people in civilian clothing ("uniform-effect"), showing a tattoo had a rather detrimental effect of attitudes toward police officers ("tattoo-effect"). In the present study, we investigate whether these effects transfer to the sub-population of criminal offenders. A total ofN= 98 inmates of a correctional institution in Rhineland-Palatinate participated in the study. Inmates were presented pictures of police officers in police uniform or civilian clothing with or without visible tattoos. Results revealed the "uniform-effect" among inmates, i.e., a more positive evaluation of police officers wearing police uniform. However, the "tattoo-effect" was not present in this subgroup. Implications for theory, limitations and future research directions, as well as practical implications are discussed.