Any public pool worth visiting (in the US) has strict rules about only allowing coastguard-approved flotation devices. These devices are designed to allow an unconscious child to float face up. Which means fuck-all if they're already stuck under a float.
Floats in public pools are a Bad Thing, I completely agree.
If the pool staff is obsessive enough to check your float's USCG approval, it's probably not going to be any fun. It may be happening because you have a critical mass of bad swimmers trying to drown or because the lifeguards are the fun police, but in either case it's not a very good pool.
Source: fun police in high school and now have young children -- highly supervised pools are a bummer.
Floats in public pools are a Bad Thing, I completely agree.
Source: lifeguard through highschool and college.