Photographs depicting a Philadelphia police officer on duty with a Nazi tattoo began circulating on social media late Wednesday night.

UPDATE: Internal Affairs investigation clears Philly police officer with apparent Nazi tattoo



The ensuing outrage prompted Philadelphia police to release a statement saying the matter had been reported to internal affairs. The department said it does not condone anything interpreted as "offensive, hateful or discriminatory in any form." Yet, it acknowledged it does not have a policy regarding tattoos.

A photo appears to show the Nazi Party's partieadler emblem tattooed on the left forearm of an officer identified as Ian Hans Lichterman, 39. The party emblem features an eagle, with outstretched wings, holding a wreath containing a swastika. The photo shows the eagle topped by the word "Fatherland," but it is not clear if the tattoo includes the enwreathed swastika at the bottom, which cannot be seen in the photo.

Lichterman's right arm features an assault rifle laid over the United States flag.

The photos were posted to Facebook by Evan Parish Matthews, who claimed he took them at a Black Lives Matter march held during the Democratic National Convention. Matthews said Lichterman was one of about 100 officers who blocked an entrance to a major intersection during the march.

In his Facebook post, Matthews urged people to call Northeast Philadelphia's Second District police headquarters and inform them that "employing a police officer with a white-supremacist, Nazi tattoo is unacceptable." His post has been shared more than 3,000 times.