Tired of seeing teens walk around with their pants so low it shows all their underwear? (how do they do that anyway?)
Ocala, FL certainly is. So much so that they have passed an ordinance stating that anyone who wears their pants 2 inches below their ‘natural waist line’ will get a warning or two (complete with pictures), and if they continually violate the law could receive a $500 fine and 6 months in jail.
Plummers beware! This law applies to anyone showing too much of their…backside.
Officials in Ocala, Fla. agree with Platt’s sentiment so much that city council unanimously passed an ordinance that prohibits anyone on city property from wearing pants two inches or more below a person’s natural waist.
“I just think it’s disgraceful to show your underwear,” Councilwoman Mary Rich said to WFTV. “We try to be a nice, clean city. I think it’ll help clean it up some.”
Rich previously tried to pass the rule in 2009, but no one seconded the motion. At the time, Mayor Kent Guinn objected to the ordinance, in part because he thought it would lead to profiling.
Rich said the ordinance applies to both genders and all races.
“It doesn’t matter what color they are,” Rich said, according to the Washington Post blog GovBeat. “They all wear their pants down.”
Guinn, who oversees the Ocala Police Department as part of his mayoral duties, asked Rich at the council meeting how officers were supposed to measure the distance between a suspect’s natural waist and the waistband of the pants. He said it is not like seat belts, which are either being worn or not, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.
“We are not looking to charge people,” City Attorney Patrick Gilligan said. “If they don’t comply, I think the chief will tell police officers to take your phone out and take a picture.”
The sagging pants ordinance is enforceable on city-owned or leased property, including sidewalks, streets, parks, sports, recreation and public transportation facilities and parking lots.
When asked about a service worker, say a plumber, whose buttcrack might show, “He will get a warning like everybody else,” Gilligan said, according to the Star-Banner.
Police are expected to issue warnings to saggy-pantsed offenders at first. After that, those caught with their pants down face a $500 fine or jail time, WFTV reported.
MTV’s Rob Markman condemned the ordinance. “Still, it isn’t the rap stars getting into hot water that’s the most troublesome, it’s the thought that a local government can dictate how young people dress,” the MTV News hip-hop beat writer penned. “First it’s saggy jeans, next it’s the way you tie your shoe laces (sic) or the way you wear your hat.”
Teacher Howard Gunn said he was concerned about enforcement. “Most of these kids you are dealing with are ones that have probably been in jail or are going to jail,” Gunn told the Ocala council. “A lot of times they are going through things. And we slap this on them, they are going to go further.”
“The kids are going to say something to you because they don’t know the law,” Gunn said about the police. “And then, there you go. Escalation. Now you have an assault on a police officer.”
Over the years, lawmakers around the country have proposed and passed laws to try to crack down on the sagging pants trend. In Fort Worth, Texas, you can’t sag and ride the city bus. In Opaocka, Fla., refusing to tighten your trousers will cost you $250. In Colinsville, Illinois, wearing saggy pants on any public property is banned. And in New York, State Senator Eric Adams used his own money to put up billboards that read, “Stop the Sag.”
Source: rt.com
Photo: Reuters / Mohamad Torokman
This is stupid. This is America. We can dress how we want. His actual butt is not out so who cares? I dont like it but its their expression. Wake up. Dont let them start telling you what you can and can’t wear.
It is sickening to see them. I don’t know how they keep from falling off. I would arrest them first time I saw them
Good I am all for it
This is ludicrous. Prison time for boxers? So it’s against the law to sag one’s pants but not illegal to have no pants or wear a speedo. I guess logic wasn’t a part of the law. Not to mention who the $#%&!@* are you to tell anyone what to wear or how to wear it? Sounds like we are all already in prison…. laws do not fix problems like this, they just create more. i hope ocala enjoys getting their pants sued off for this bs.
‘Bout time!
I absolutely hate seeing people wear saggy pant. Stupid thing to do imho. That said, how can these local city governments get away with passing unconstitutional laws? As long as someone’s privates are covered its none of the governments or anyone else’s business what someone wears. If the shorts alone would be enough to cover someone what difference does it make if they add some useless, trip them up and have to hold with one hand saggy pants to the outfit?
BOUT TIME
Just like work, to damn lazy to finish anything…..!!!
it’s NOT just teenagers, I’ve seen grown men walk around like this… A funny story….We were @ Auto Zone one day, there was a car next to us with a middle age very nice looking Black lady next to us, her man came out the door with his ass showing & she went off on him right there…..I was thinking.. You Go Girl….she was all fixed up nice & this fool does that… he didn’t deserve a Good woman.
Yes, it is about time. We’re tired of being exposed to underwear.