Dothan, AL Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 98-8 targets a specific method of panhandling and solicitation: stopping traffic or setting up a roadblock on a public street to collect contributions or distribute material, whether for a person or an organization. It does not ban sidewalk panhandling outright; the prohibited conduct is interfering with the flow of traffic itself, which covers the classic median or intersection solicitation that Dothan's police field complaints about along corridors like the Ross Clark Circle. Because the section sits in Chapter 98, Traffic and Vehicles, rather than Chapter 62, Offenses, enforcement falls to the traffic and patrol functions of the Dothan Police Department rather than a separate panhandling unit.

A conviction is punished under the city's general penalty clause, § 1-4, since § 98-8 does not set its own fine: a fine of not less than $1.00 nor more than $500.00, imprisonment in the city jail or at hard labor for up to six months, or both, at the trial judge's discretion. Section 98-8(b) also makes each day the violation continues a separate offense, so a person who returns to the same roadblock on multiple days can be charged multiple times rather than once for one ongoing course of conduct.

Because the statute reaches solicitation on behalf of any person or organization, it applies equally to charity fundraisers, political campaigns, and day laborers who wave down cars from the roadway, not only classic panhandlers.