C'MON SON! THE CO'S TURNED INTO THE FASHION POLICE!

Court officers have become the fashion police, scolding defendants who wear saggy pants and forcing them to cover their rear ends.

Men whose low-hanging jeans expose underwear are regularly chastised or booted from courtrooms.

"That's my right to wear them this way!" one defendant recently said when a court officer in the Bronx hassled him.

"Not in our house," she shot back.

The teen was not allowed to see the judge until his pants came up.

Fed-up court officers say the style may be popular on the street, but it's frowned upon inside the courthouse.

"When they wear their pants that way, it shows a lack of respect for the court system and a total lack of respect for themselves," said Dennis Quirk, president of the New York State Court Officers Association.

"We don't care about fashion trends," he stressed.

Quirk said the saggy-bottom trend - which has been criticized by state Sen. Eric Adams and President Obama - is most prevalent in Bronx courts but is an issue across the city.

"It happens every day," said one Queens court officer.

Every judge has a different standard for acceptable dress in the courtroom, and the code is enforced by officers.

"I don't want jeans that are hanging out and showing their underwear," said Bronx Supreme Court Justice Efrain Alvarado.

Defendants say court officers have no business examining their backsides.

"Why do they have the power to control how I dress?" said James Bishop, an accused vandal whose droopy denims drew ire.

"If they see baggy jeans, they right away think you're a gangster and you're going to start something. But it's just a style," he said.

Another defendant, who had a heated argument with court officers, left the courthouse rather than pull up his pants.

"You all should mind your own business," he said before storming off.


SOURCE