14 DAY TRIAL // Starting three years ago, police in the Newquay, Cornish resort have started sending people home from the beach because of their apparel.
Officers were inundated with drunken stag parties and teen gatherings, and claim these new measures have helped clean up the town.
"We have had this consistency of seizing inappropriate items of clothing, sending people home to get changed, and that has worked, it has made a real difference, this 'no-nonsense attitude," Devon and Cornwall Police Superintendent Julie Whitmarsh stated to The Mirror.
They target mankini wearers in particular. The mankini is an elongated, one-piece male bathing suit, featuring a thong. Sacha Baron Cohen introduced the mankini in his 2006 socio-political parody Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
"Mankini is what we term 'offensive clothing', so we won't accept people wearing them. They are just hideous. […] They are just revolting, there is nothing pleasant about seeing anybody in a mankini, " the Police Superintendent said, explaining town officials' decision.
The town adopted these harsh regulations in 2009, when teenagers died after ingesting large amounts of alcohol, in two separate cases.
The Newquay Safe campaign is meant to bring families back to the small resort, once known for being safe and family-oriented, instead of a haven for drinking and partying.
Police blame parents for their children's inappropriate behavior.
"I remember one of our PCSOs said a 16-year-old boy had 64 cans of super-strength lager at 2pm," officer Whitmarsh described. The boy's mother had allowed the incident to happen, even suggesting he was just having fun.
In other cases, parents just dropped their children off at the beach, their bags full of bottles containing beer and spirits, and didn't hang around to supervise.
"You get adults dropping their children off with, literally, a boot full of alcohol, and they say: 'I'd rather know what they are drinking," officer Whitmarsh added.
Crime in the small resort has dropped by one fifth since the summer of 2009, and residents now feel much safer living there.
"It was a very difficult place in 2009. I can understand the fear of crime and anti-social behavior that the residents had, that is why we have worked very closely with them, " the Police Superintendent explained.