The article notes that databases are of legible words or descriptive words related to documented tattoos.

Seems to me it would be faster and more accurate (civil-liberties concerns notwithstanding) to archive digital images of visible tattoos. Surely there is software out there that can isolate (Photoshop Magic-Wand-style) and match portions of images quickly. (Come to think of it, I could use something like that to weed out inferior duplicates in my porn collection.)

Body identification is actually one of the reasons I have a tattoo. Although it's pretty low on the list.

There's also a "blotchy database", for crooks with weird skin conditions.

This woman looks familiar. I feel like I've seen her tattoos somewhere before.