Dallas, TX Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Rather than a general anti-loitering ordinance, which would raise constitutional vagueness problems, Dallas targets loitering tied to a specific unlawful purpose. Section 31-30(a) makes it an offense to loiter in a public place in a manner and under circumstances manifesting the purpose of selling any illegal controlled substance, dangerous drug, simulated controlled substance, or volatile chemical. The section lists factors an officer may weigh: whether the person is a 'known drug dealer,' defined in Subsection (c) as someone convicted of manufacture, sale, or delivery of a controlled substance within the year before arrest and within the arresting officer's knowledge; whether the person is at a location frequented by drug users or sellers; whether the person repeatedly engages passersby, on foot or in a vehicle, in conversation; or whether the person repeatedly passes or receives money, objects, or written material to or from passersby.

Subsection (b) builds in a due-process check: no arrest may be made unless the officer first gives the person an opportunity to explain the conduct, and no conviction stands if the explanation given was true and disclosed a lawful purpose. Dallas uses the identical structure for loitering tied to prostitution: Section 31-27 makes it an offense to manifest, in a public place, the purpose of inducing or soliciting another to commit prostitution, judged by whether the person is a 'known prostitute or panderer' or is in a police-identified high-risk location and repeatedly beckons to, stops, or interferes with the passage of others, with the same pre-arrest explanation requirement and affirmative defense for a truthful, lawful explanation.