OPA-LOCKA, Fla., Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Officials in a Florida city said they will extend a ban on saggy pants, passed in 2007, to include women as well as men.
Opa-locka City Commissioner Timothy Holmes, who sponsored the original ban on underwear-exposing pants said the law didn't include language about women or men -- just that it made it a violation punishable by a $250 fine or 25 hours of community service to wear saggy pants on city property. The law was later expanded to wearing the bottom-exposing style anywhere in public and the fine increased to $500.
City Commissioner Dorothy Johnson said the problem has extended from men to women, The Miami Herald reported Friday.
"I heard a little boy say, 'Mommy, pull your pants up, that man is looking at you,'" Johnson said. "Your son is telling you this, and she didn't see anything wrong with it."
Johnson said her intent isn't simply to fine people but begin to change behavior.
"I don't want people to be fined just to be fined, I want to flesh it out and have some town hall meetings," Johnson said.
The Herald said 72 people in Opa-locka have been ticketed so far this year for wearing saggy pants.