Public Conduct in Shreveport, LA (2026)
8 verified public conduct rules for Shreveport, Louisiana, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Aggressive Panhandling
Shreveport doesn't ban panhandling outright, but Code of Ordinances Sec. 50-166 bars soliciting within 15 feet of ATMs, pay phones, bus stops, and building entrances, on posted private property, or from drivers in traffic. Accosting someone or continuing to solicit after a refusal is a separate, harder-edged violation.
Shreveport Restricts Where and How Panhandling Occurs
Significant RestrictionsShreveport Code of Ordinances § 50-166
(b)It shall be unlawful for any person to solicit money or other things of value:(1)On private property if the owner, tenant or lawful occupant has asked the person not to solicit on the property, or has posted a sign clearly indicating that solicitations are not welcome on the property;(2)Within 15 feet of the entrance to or exit from any public toilet facility;(3)Within 15 feet of an automati...
Public Urination
Shreveport makes it a criminal offense to urinate or defecate on any street, sidewalk, gutter, alley or driveway within the city. Code of Ordinances Sec. 50-156 carries a fine of up to $500.00, up to 60 days in jail, or both, and Shreveport police enforce it citywide with no exceptions written into the text.
Shreveport Bans Public Urination and Defecation
Some RestrictionsShreveport Code of Ordinances § 50-156
(a)It shall be unlawful for any person to urinate or defecate on the streets, in the gutters, on the sidewalks, or in alleys, driveways, or other places near the streets, alleys, sidewalks, or other places of public resort.(b)Whoever commits the crime of urinating or defecating in public places shall be fined not more than $500.00 or imprisoned not more than 60 days, or both.
Skateboarding Rules
Roller skates, roller blades and skateboards are banned outright on any public street, sidewalk, park or other public place inside Shreveport's B-4/Central Business District, with a carved-out exception for the stretch of the Clyde Fant Bike Trail that runs through downtown. Outside the district, skaters must stay off roadways except when crossing at a crosswalk.
Skateboards Banned in Shreveport's B-4/CBD
Significant RestrictionsShreveport Code of Ordinances § 90-3
(a)No person upon roller skates, or riding in or by means of any coaster, toy vehicle or similar device, shall go upon any roadway, except while crossing a street on a crosswalk and, when so crossing, such person shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to pedestrians. This section shall not apply upon any street while set aside as a play street as...
Loitering Rules
Willfully blocking a sidewalk, street, alley, or the entrance to a public building in Shreveport is a crime under Code of Ordinances Sec. 50-140. Anyone who impedes, hinders, or restrains foot or vehicle traffic on a public passageway faces up to $500 in fines or 60 days in jail.
Obstructing Public Passage Is a Crime in Shreveport
Significant RestrictionsShreveport Code of Ordinances § 50-140(a)-(c)
(a)No person shall willfully obstruct the free, convenient and normal use of any public sidewalk, street, highway, bridge, alley, road, or other passageway, or the entrance, corridor or passage of any public building, structure, watercraft or ferry, by impeding, hindering, stifling, retarding or restraining traffic or passage thereon or therein.(b)This section shall not be applicable to the ere...
Outdoor Smoking Restrictions
Shreveport's Smokefree Air Act reaches outdoors too: Sec. 50-212 bans smoking in any playground or park, within 25 feet of a city or parish building entrance, and anywhere on hospital or medical-facility grounds including the public sidewalks abutting them. Violations run $25 to $100 in escalating fines under Sec. 50-214.
Shreveport Bans Smoking in Parks, Playgrounds, Near Entrances
Significant RestrictionsShreveport Code of Ordinances § 50-212
(a)Except as permitted by subsection (b), no person shall:(1)Smoke in any public building.(2)Smoke in any school.(3)Smoke in any public place and in any enclosed area within a place of employment.(4)Smoke within 25 feet of the entrance or exit to any building or facility occupied or operated by the city or any of its agencies, or a building or facility occupied or operated by the parish or any ...
Jaywalking
Shreveport requires pedestrians to cross only at a marked or unmarked crosswalk in the business district, and bars crossing anywhere else there entirely. Outside the business district, a pedestrian who crosses mid-block must yield the right-of-way to every vehicle on the roadway, and ignoring that yield duty is what draws a citation.
Crosswalks Required In Shreveport's Business District
Some RestrictionsShreveport Code of Ordinances § 90-458(a)-(b); § 90-459
Sec. 90-458. - Use of crosswalks, when required.(a)Between adjacent intersections at which traffic-control signals are in operation, pedestrians shall not cross at any place except in a crosswalk.(b)No pedestrian shall cross a roadway other than in a crosswalk in any business district.... Sec. 90-459. - When pedestrians to yield right-of-way. Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point oth...
Public Marijuana Use
Shreveport punishes simple marijuana possession with a fine-only summons, not a custodial arrest. Under Code of Ordinances Sec. 50-122, anyone caught with marijuana, THC or its chemical derivatives without a valid prescription faces a $50 fine, provided the amount stays under 14 grams, the substance isn't a synthetic cannabinoid, and the person is at least 18.
Shreveport Marijuana Possession: $50 Fine, No Arrest
Some RestrictionsShreveport Code of Ordinances § 50-122
(a)It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to possess marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, or chemical derivatives thereof, as defined in R.S. 40:964, Schedule I, unless such substance was obtained directly or pursuant to a valid prescription or order from a practitioner, or as provided in R.S. 40:1046, while acting in the course of his professional practice, or as otherwise ...
Public Alcohol Use
Shreveport Code § 10-190 bans drinking or carrying an open alcoholic beverage on any public street or sidewalk, in a business parking lot, or in public view outside an enclosed structure, anywhere in the city. The one carve-out is the mapped Red River District, where patrons may carry drinks in an approved 16-ounce logo cup under strict hours and container rules.
Shreveport Bans Open Containers Outside the Red River District
Significant RestrictionsShreveport Code of Ordinances § 10-190(a)
(a)Drinking in public, open container—Prohibited in general. Except as provided in subsection (b), it shall be unlawful to consume alcoholic beverages in public of high or low alcoholic content within the city limits in or on any of the following areas:(1)On any public street or sidewalk;(2)On any property zoned so as to permit only packaged alcoholic beverage sales for off premises consumption...