Bensalem, PA Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 160-1 of the Bensalem Township Code, titled 'Prohibited acts,' lists fifteen things no person may do willfully within the Township, and clause (3) targets loitering directly: it is unlawful 'to loaf, loiter or stand upon any of the sidewalks, roads or other public highways or places or in any way to interfere with the free and full passage of vehicular or pedestrian traffic thereon.' The same section reaches related public-order conduct in the same chapter, including disorderly conduct and fighting (clause 1), public indecency (clause 2), unlawful gambling (clause 4), accosting a female (clause 5), interfering with a police officer's or firefighter's duties (clauses 10 and 11), and lurking or prowling with intent to commit mischief or a crime (clause 12), so loitering sits among a broader set of public-order offenses Township Police enforce together.

Section 160-1 was most recently amended by Ordinance No. 2024-05 (October 28, 2024) and Ordinance No. 2025-01 (January 27, 2025), on top of its original adoption as Ordinance No. 150 on June 28, 1972. Section 160-3 sets the penalty by reference rather than a flat local fine: a violator 'shall be guilty as provided in Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Annotated, with penalties set forth in 18 Pa. C.S.A. §§ 1103 and 1104, or shall be guilty and punishable as set forth in 53 P.S. § 65749,' which sets the maximum fines and sentences for summary and lesser offenses generally rather than the chapter naming its own dollar figure.