In June, I wrote about a new Los Angeles Fire Department policy requiring firefighters on duty to cover their tattoos, whether they're out on a call or in the station.
Department brass called it a simple "grooming" issue -- a way to restore public confidence in the professionalism of a department battered by harassment allegations.
But now the policy is shaping up as a test of the department's zero-tolerance stance toward harassment, and whether it applies to guys who are decorated like comic book characters.
Dan Stark has a web of tattoos on his arms, chest, neck and head. He's an eight-year veteran, the son of a firefighter, "with nothing in my file but commendations," who suddenly finds himself odd man out.
The day the policy took effect in April, he said someone left a copy of the edict on his station's kitchen table, next to a photo of a group of shrouded Muslim women, labeled with the names of five firefighters -- including him -- who are heavily tattooed.
Then he found his station locker covered with copies of the policy, he said. That meant someone had broken into it, or used the spare key kept in the captain's dorm. Later that day, he said, someone drew a picture of a mummy and captioned it "Stark's new uniform."
When he complained about the ribbing, one captain told him to quit griping and be a team player, he said. Another suggested he get some tattoos removed, as a sort of goodwill gesture. Another official said he risked ruining his career if he kept complaining. None apparently forwarded his complaints up the chain of command.
Stark shared with me his journal -- a meticulous recollection of jokes, insults and offhand comments that he said made him feel a pariah. "Why don't these members put themselves in my shoes," he wrote July 7. "All I want to do is go to work and do my job like before.
"What happened to zero tolerance? I guess that is not written for the tattooed firefighter."
That's a question being asked more and more as complaints trickle out of fire stations.
Most of the hundreds of tattooed firefighters find it easy to comply. Their uniform shirts cover their arms and chest. But about 50 are forced to wear turtlenecks, gloves and bandages.
"These guys feel helpless," Capt. Carlos Caceres said. "Some are totally surprised. They don't want to sue, they don't want money. They just want the hypocrisy to stop."
