More Pants-Droppin' Drama!

Shaker Kristy forwarded this article in the Detroit Free Press all about how the Flint police are cracking down (ho ho) on saggy pants:

Flint residents now have to watch their butts because Police Chief David Dicks is on the lookout.

Dicks is on the lookout for butts. Boy, if I haven't heard that story a thousand times! Anyway…

Dicks, who took over the department last month on an interim basis, announced that his officers would start arresting people wearing saggy pants that expose skivvies, boxer shorts or bare bottoms.

"Some people call it a fad," Dicks told the Free Press this week while patrolling the streets of Flint. "But I believe it's a national nuisance. It is indecent and thus it is indecent exposure, which has been on the books for years."

On June 27, the chief issued a departmental memorandum telling officers: "This immoral self expression goes beyond freedom of expression."

The crime, he says, is disorderly conduct or indecent exposure, both misdemeanors punishable by 93 days to a year in jail and/or fines up to $500.

Dicks, 41, broke down his interpretation of the laws as such: 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.

See helpful Flash animation for further detail.

Though Dicks also claims "the style also gives police probable cause to search those wearing no-rise jeans," he asserts that the new regulations are not unfairly targeting black men and teens.

"This is not a black issue. This is an issue that's all walks of life," said Dicks, who is black. "Many people from different ethnic backgrounds and races are doing this fad."

So, see there, you civil libertarian crybabies? People who disgrace themselves by merely aping black fashion will be targeted, too! Happy?

The ACLU is keeping an eye on the situation to monitor whether the "policy disproportionately affects African Americans."

Related: Privilege: In One Story (with Pictures!)