Bergenfield, NJ Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Chapter 205, Loitering, dates to a 1975 ordinance adopted as Sec. 3-2 of the Revised General Ordinances. Section 205-1 defines LOITERING simply as remaining idle in essentially one location, and defines PUBLIC PLACE broadly to include any street, highway, road, alley or sidewalk, the front or neighborhood of any store, shop, restaurant or tavern, public grounds, parks, and even parking lots or vacant private property not owned or controlled by the person charged. Section 205-2 does not ban loitering outright; it prohibits loitering that creates a danger of a breach of the peace, causes a disturbance or annoyance to others' comfort and repose, obstructs the free passage of pedestrians or vehicles, or obstructs, molests or interferes with anyone lawfully in the public place, expressly including unsolicited offensive or insulting remarks meant to annoy or disturb.

Section 205-3 builds in a warning step before enforcement: when an officer decides a person's presence is causing one of those conditions, the officer must order the person to leave before making an arrest, and only a refusal to leave after that order is itself punishable. Section 205-4 adds a parent-and-minor mechanism: a parent or guardian who knowingly permits a minor under 18 to loiter in violation of the chapter is separately liable, the Chief of Police must notify a parent or guardian after a minor's conviction, and a second violation by the same minor within 30 days of that notice is presumed to have occurred with the parent's knowledge and permission absent contrary evidence.