A New Jersey state trooper has been fired after an investigation into alleged white supremacist neck tattoo

A New Jersey state trooper, who disappeared from a Delaware County medical center last year, prompting a multiday search, was fired after an investigation into his tattoos that were linked to white supremacist ideology, records show.

Detective Jason Dare was terminated from the New Jersey State Police in November after more than 19 years on the force, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.

When Dare went missing from the medical rehabilitation center in March 2023, authorities did not release details about why he was in a Pennsylvania facility. He went missing near the Penn State Brandywine campus, and was found five days later in the Middletown Township area. When authorities released photos of Dare in a public call to help with the search, some questioned tattoos seen on his body, saying they might have ties to white supremacist beliefs.

One of the photos showed a tattoo on Dare’s lower neck that read “Blood Honor.” The slogan “Blood & Honour” was used by the Hitler Youth, and is associated with a number of white supremacist groups, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.

The Attorney General’s office of Public Integrity and Accountability confirmed Dare had “inappropriate social media posts and conflicts of interest related to visible tattoos associated with groups espousing racist ideology,” a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office said in a statement.

Dare also violated the terms of a previously negotiated plea agreement for misconduct by going absent without official leave when he left the medical facility last year, according to a summary of the New Jersey State Police disciplinary report.

Dare also entered a Pennsylvania residence without permission and discharged one round from a shotgun through the front window of his home, according to the report. The Attorney General’s Office declined to provide further information on the incidents, including a date.

“As I have said before, there is no place for hate in the New Jersey State Police or within the ranks of the more than 40,000 sworn law enforcement officers in New Jersey,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. “The vast majority of law enforcement officers work hard to build and nurture trust with the communities we serve. When members of law enforcement are perceived to be associated with groups espousing hate or discrimination, it destroys that trust and jeopardizes the safety of our residents and officers.”

The New Jersey State Police does not allow applicants to have tattoos or other forms of body art on their “face, head, neck, scalp, hands, or any part of the exposed body,” according to its recruitment guide. The agency’s policy also states that tattoos cannot be “prejudicial to good order, discipline, or [cause] a discredit” to the trooper or agency.

The New Jersey State Police sustained a violation of uniform and grooming standards against Dare based on his neck tattoo.