Dearborn County, IN Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 91.40 of the Dearborn County Code, adopted by the Board of Commissioners as Ord. 2010-07 on 11-3-10, is the county's rule on soliciting contributions from people in vehicles. It turns on where the person stands and who is approached, not on how the request is made. Under division (A) it is unlawful for any person standing, sitting, walking or otherwise located on a highway within the county to distribute handbills, leaflets, bulletins, literature, advertisements or similar material to occupants of motor vehicles, to solicit contributions of any nature from the occupants of motor vehicles, or to sell or attempt to sell merchandise or services to the occupants of motor vehicles.

Division (B) defines HIGHWAY broadly for this section: the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel in the county, including streets, alleys and medians. A person working a median or the shoulder of a street at a stoplight is therefore inside the definition, whatever the purpose or cause being promoted. The prohibition covers a person in any posture named in the section, whether standing, sitting or walking.

The quoted text says nothing about doorsteps, parking lots or private property, and it does not list conduct such as following a person or blocking a path. The county's regulation is the roadside ban on contributions, handbills and sales aimed at occupants of motor vehicles.