South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Mehlville Fire relaxes employee tattoo policy

Mehlville+Fire+relaxes+employee+tattoo+policy

The Mehlville Fire Protection District relaxed its employee tattoo policy recently, going from a complete ban to an approval process.

The new policy does not allow tattoos on the hands, face or neck and outlines ways for employees to get current and future tattoos approved. Employees will have to submit a picture/drawing and the location of the tattoo to Chief Brian Hendricks, who will then approve or deny it. 

Hendricks said if employees “play games” with the policy, it will be a disciplinary issue.

“I don’t want to police it to that magnitude, but if somebody comes in and I get a complaint because someone has some egregious tattoo that we didn’t know about, we’re going to have to deal with it,” Hendricks said. 

The policy matches one recently enacted by the St. Louis County Police Department, and was identified by Captain Ty Cardona, shop steward of Mehlville Local 2665 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, as one of the top priorities for employees. The St. Charles Police Department has had a similar tattoo policy since 2015. 

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