PIKEVILLE, Tenn., May 14 (UPI) -- A Tennessee city has begun the process of making baggy pants outside of the law within its borders.

The City Council of Pikeville unanimously approved an ordinance that would make individuals who wear their pants "more than three inches below the top of the hips (crest of the ilium)" guilty of public indecency.


The ordinance must be read multiple times before it can officially be declared a law and Mayor Phil Cagle told the Times Free Press it would be at least a few months before the rule goes into effect.

"Myself and the City Council, we wanted an ordinance passed in black and white that our officers know what to tolerate and what not to tolerate," Cagle said. "Now they know what we expect, and they know how to handle it."

Offenders would be forced to pay at least $25 after their first offense and "not more than" $50 for subsequent offenses.

According to the ordinance, the city of Pikeville finds "the exposure of a person's buttocks and genital area or undergarments is offensive and indecent" and "there is evidence that indicates that wearing sagging pants is injurious to the health of the wearer as it causes improper gait."

State law already makes "indecent exposure" in schools illegal and Cagle was unclear as to how Pikeville's ordinance is different. "All I know is we just don't want them running around half naked on our streets," Cagle said. "That's the bottom line."