Kenosha, WI Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

O is one of the enumerated acts of disorderly conduct in Chapter XI, alongside fighting, indecent conduct and disturbing the peace, which places all street begging, aggressive or passive, under the same permit-first framework: a person may not beg or receive alms in a public place, or go from place to place doing so, unless the Mayor has issued written permission beforehand. The ordinance does not spell out a published application process for that permission, so in practice the section functions as a default prohibition on unpermitted solicitation.

Officers can cite any unpermitted begging, whether it involves following a pedestrian, blocking a sidewalk, or simply sitting with a sign and asking passersby for money, because the text draws no line between assertive and polite requests. A, a conviction is punishable the same as other disorderly conduct offenses: a forfeiture of up to $1,000, plus prosecution costs, assessments and surcharges, with a default of up to ninety days in the Kenosha County Jail or suspension of the person's driver's license for as long as five years. K annoyance-in-a-public-place provisions, to police confrontational street solicitation.