NSW police officers will be banned from having visible tattoos under a sweeping reform of the force's public image set to begin this year.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that a draft policy, being prepared for Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, is in the final stages of approval and recommends banning all visible tattoos on serving police and new recruits coming into the force.

The document, written by Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy and Assistant Commissioner Paul Carey, recommends a new standard for cadets, meaning that anyone with prominent body art trying to join the police could be denied entry to the academy.

Discussions are also under way about how serving officers with full-sleeve tattoos, or other prominent tattoos, should be managed, with several options being considered.

They range from asking officers to wear long-sleeved shirts and pants to cover up the tattoos, to the more extreme measure of having them removed entirely.

Mr Corboy, who heads the Education and Training Command, said he believed visible tattoos, particularly those above the neckline, were a blight on the NSW Police Force.

"This is about professionalism, it's about proper discipline and how you carry yourself in public," Mr Corboy told The Sunday Telegraph.

"We've identified more recruits coming in with full arm tattoos, or tattoos on their legs, and obviously some are on their necks and faces.

"Does the community want someone knocking on their door with a Mike Tyson tattoo on their face or neck? I don't think so.

"As an organisation we need to discuss whether what people place on their arms or body is a reflection on the NSW Police Force."

Mr Corboy said his personal view was that anyone with a tattoo on their face or neck should not be allowed to become a police officer.

"We have to send a clear message to those joining that these are our expectations," Mr Corboy said. "As for how we recruit, my position on facial tattoos is fairly solid, but the debate about letting people in with full-sleeve or arm tattoos is a debate we need to have."

His view has been echoed by Mr Carey, the head of the force's Professional Standards Command, who said he was managing two complaints about officers said to sport offensive tattoos.

"One is a very recent complaint into a tattoo that some people deemed offensive," Mr Carey said.

Another investigation, he said, was looking at an "improper association" that formed when an officer had tattoo work done at a parlour.

"There is the issue of where (officers) get tattoos done. In one case, the tattooist had connections with a criminal organisation and we had an association form (with the officer) . . . (so) we deemed that improper; that investigation is under way at the moment."

Other aspects of the policy deal with specific types of tattoos, including tribal tattoos which could be seen as "culturally insensitive", Mr Carey said.

"There are (also) a lot of tattoos written in another language, and who knows what they say? So that's something we also need to address."

Mr Carey said his view was that officers should have only

tattoos that could be covered by clothing; any other visible ink was unacceptable.

"People with tattoos on limbs and torsos can be covered but moving on to the neck, head and face -- my view would be we don't want that look.

"A simple option for them is to cover up . . . (but) the extreme act of having a tattoo removed is something we'd have to consider (as well). I know there is at least one chap with a tattoo on the back of his neck; there's no complaint against that. However, I am investigating (another) very recent complaint into a tattoo (on an officer) that some people did deem offensive."