Newly-elected Cocoa Mayor Henry Parrish not so sure about city's saggy pants ban

Cocoa, FL (Florida Today) -- The newly elected mayor of Cocoa wants the city council to consider the ramifications of the law banning saggy pants before it goes into effect Jan. 1.

Mayor Henry Parrish is concerned the measure could lead to a costly legal fight if the ordinance is contested in court.

"We are asking for trouble," Parrish said. "I believe this would open the city to a big lawsuit. Defending it is going to cost taxpayers a lot of money."

Parrish called for a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday for the council to reconsider the ordinance that will ban pants or skirts that expose underwear or skin more than 3 inches below the waistline.

The law would only be enforced on streets, sidewalks and other city property. Although it was passed in October, enforcement was delayed to educate the community about the ordinance.

The ordinance drew international attention - much of it mocking - after it was passed. A Google search of "Cocoa saggy pants law" on Friday produced 963,000 results.

Two of the three council members who voted in favor of the ordinance, Mike Blake and Jake Williams, were replaced after the November election by Parrish and Councilwoman Brenda Warner.

The mayor wants the opportunity to decide on the ordinance before it goes in to effect.

City Attorney Anthony Garganese was asked to prepare an ordinance to repeal the law in case the council makes that decision Tuesday.

The president of the Central Brevard Branch of the NAACP, Alberta Wilson, has lobbied for overturning the ordinance. Although the mother of two sons doesn't approve of the fashion statement, she believes the law treads on an individual's civil rights.

"I am adamantly against young people walking around looking like that, it is degrading," Wilson said. "However, that does not allow any municipality or any other government entity to infringe people's civil rights."

The ordinance calls for a civil fine of $25 for first written citation after an initial verbal warning from police or code enforcement staff.

In 2010, Cocoa abandoned efforts to pass a similar ordinance because of constitutional court challenges facing other municipalities that enacted saggy-pants laws.

Wilson feels the law creates unreasonable probable cause for law enforcement to engage individuals on the street.

"They wanted a mechanism by which the Cocoa Police Department could further harass our young people," Wilson said.

The mayor also is worried that enforcement could be seen as profiling.

"I believe if we let it go into law, it is going to put us in a position where we are going to be perceived as possibly stereotyping individuals," Parrish said.