Clifton, NJ Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 355-2 is not a general anti-loitering ordinance; the Clifton Municipal Council wrote it narrowly around three required elements. First, the location must be a street, a public or quasi-public place, or private property that is not the person's own and where the owner or lawful occupant has not consented to their presence. Second, the person must be under the influence of intoxicating liquor or an unlawful controlled dangerous substance at the time. Third, the loitering must cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, so simply standing on a sidewalk while intoxicated is not enough on its own without that public effect.

The three requirements combine to target the same conduct that public drunkenness and disorderly-persons statutes elsewhere address, and the section sits among Chapter 355's other quality-of-life rules, including § 355-1's public urination and defecation ban and § 355-3's disrobing-in-vehicles ban, all adopted together on January 2, 2008 by Ordinance No. 6709-08. Because the section requires intoxication plus a public-inconvenience effect, it does not reach sober loitering, panhandling alone, or standing on one's own property, none of which are covered by this particular provision.