Tattoo handbook aids border service

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This article was published 04/03/2012 (5195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Canada Border Services agents have a tattoo handbook to help pinpoint gang members or members of a criminal organization, according to an advocacy group’s website.

According to what Public Intelligence says is a Canadian Border Services Agency handbook, a cat tattoo can represent a “life as a thief.”

“A single cat signifies that the criminal acted alone, while several cats together show that the criminal was part of a gang,” it says.

A tomcat’s head is considered good luck for a thief or serves as a warning, “as it signifies a dangerous criminal who hates law enforcement, especially if worn on the chest.”

A version of the handbook was posted on the Internet on Feb. 28 by an advocacy group called Public Intelligence. The group identifies itself as an “international, collaborative research project aimed at aggregating the collective work of independent researchers around the globe who wish to defend the public’s right to access information.”

The handbook posted on Public Intelligence’s website features photos and descriptions of tattoos associated with gangs and criminal groups.

Travis O’Brien, a Canada Border Services Agency spokesman, said in an email the report “was not officially released by the CBSA.

“To provide a fulsome response, we will require appropriate time to review and address.”

Three dots arranged in a triangle could symbolize “prison, hospital, cemetery,” which represents “the path and ultimate end of a gang lifestyle,” the handbook says. The three dots also could mean “a crazy life” (mi vida loca), which is associated with the Mexican Mafia.

The handbook notes simply having a tattoo doesn’t mean an individual is involved in crime.

“Someone who tattoos himself may not necessarily be a gang member; however, he is at the very least indicating that he feels he runs outside the norms of society, that he is a rebel,” the section on Asian gang tattoos says. “Tattooing is not uncommon, nor generally done by the average citizen in Asian culture,” because it is seen as a “defilement” of the body.

Asian gangs in Hong Kong usually have tattoos of animals such as snakes, dragons and tigers, according to the handbook.

Tim Meadow, manager at Planet Ink on Rideau Street, near Parliament Hill in Ottawa, said in the 10 years the tattoo parlour has been in business, he hasn’t had anyone request these types of tattoos.

The parlour’s clientele includes people all walks of life, including business people with multiple tattoos in places that can be kept hidden, Meadow said.

 

— Postmedia News