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Watch Your Butt in Flint, MI

By Jeralyn

You may see London, you may see France, but in Flint, Michigan, you won't see underpants.

Police are cracking down, sending out notice that they will begin making arrests for those wearing saggy pants.

Pants pulled completely below the buttocks with underwear showing is disorderly conduct; saggy pants with skin of the buttocks showing is indecent exposure, and saggy pants, not completely below the buttocks, with underwear exposed results in a warning.

Here's the chart of offenses with pictures of what constitutes disorderly conduct or indecent exposure that will land you between 93 days to a year in jail. Also, the police warn that if they stop you for saggy pants, they have the right to search you for evidence of other crimes, such as weapon and drug possession. [More...]

No arrests yet, but the ACLU is keeping a close eye on the situation.

On Monday, a Free Press reporter and videographer rode with the chief as he confronted teens sporting the sag look. He issued verbal warnings to several people and said the style also gives police probable cause to search those wearing no-rise jeans.

How are the kids taking it?

"If I pay for my pants, I should be able to wear them how I want to," said 16-year-old Montez Phifer, taking a break from playing hoops in the city Monday. "Everyone thinks it's gangster, but it's a fashion. Nothing more."

His friend, Lorenzo Johnson, 14, said his mother warned him about the chief's stance on sagging. "I pulled them up to respect her," he said. "When she left I pulled them back down."

Another friend Senita Abrams, 18, said: "I think it's cute when boys sag."

Why is an alternative means of self-expression so threatening to people? Here's one of my favorite saggy pants photos.

[Hat tip to reader Scribe for the Flint article.]

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 09, 2008 (boomark / email).