Head over to Google News and do a search right now for the word "tattoo". Then come back here and let us know how many items came up on the first page that were related to criminals. If it's like the average news day, it was most of them. That's because one of the major things that police do when asking the community to assist them in finding criminals is to list their identifying tattoos.
This gives some pause for thought. If criminals are regularly apprehended as a result of someone seeing the tattoos that they are exhibiting, wouldn't a wise course of action be to get rid of those tattoos? Laser tattoo removal could erase the identifying marks and make it much more difficult to catch the criminal. After all, there's a big difference between the description: "5'8" white male with brown hair and brown eyes" and "5'8" white male with brown hair and brown eyes; has a tattoo of Tweety Bird on his right arm".
Of course, criminals aren't exactly known for their smarts and planning. And there are many criminals whose activity is associated with a gang which requires its own membership tattoos. But it seems that some of the smarter guys in the bunch might start thinking about this idea if they're truly planning to make a life out of crime.
Question of the Day: Do you think that if all the criminals in the country removed their tattoos, it'd be harder to stop crime?
