The city of Hampton has deputized the fashion police with a new ordinance outlawing sagging pants.
The law went into effect Friday and covers offenders eager to advertise their brand of underwear. Specifically, the Hampton ordinance prohibits sagging three inches below the hip line, said City Manager Andy Pippin. Violators are subject to a $50 fine with scofflaws risking penalties of up to $200.
"The police and city council have received numerous complaints about sagging pants," Pippin said. Police Chief Rad Porter, who was out of town and unavailable for comment Monday, modeled the law after a similar one passed recently in Albany.
Municipalities across the nation have wrestled with the sagging epidemic for years. The town council of Delcambre, Louisiana was the first to legally prohibit the practice in 2007; Hahira, located near Valdosta, followed suit in March 2008.
The interim police chief of Flint, Mich., which has one of the highest crime rates in the nation, went so far as to order the arrest of saggers but reportedly never followed through.
Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin lobbied for a ban in 2007 but the council opted for a non-punitive resolution instead.
"It was going to be so hard for a city as big as ours to enforce," said Martin, who called the practice "degrading and "disrespectful."
There was also the threat of legal challenges, along with some calls of racism. The executive director of the Georgia ACLU said the proposal would establish "a framework for an additional type of racial profiling."
That hasn't deterred municipalities including Hampton, Cordele and Dublin. City manager Pippin said he has yet to hear from any Hamptonites opposed to the plan.
Police will be "very lenient" at first, Pippin said, allowing time for the word to get out. "Officers aren't going to be out looking for people with sagging pants," he said.
Sagging was first popularized in the 1990s, with origins traced to the prison system, where belts are sometimes prohibited to prevent suicide attempts.
Fads have rarely been so stubborn.
"I'm 34-years-old and I can remember my dad telling me to pull my pants up 20 years ago," Pippin said.
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