De Pere, WI Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 8-16 defines loitering broadly as remaining idle in essentially one location, including to be dilatory, to linger, to stay, to saunter, to delay, to stand around, and the colloquial hanging around, and it defines public place to include the front or immediate area of any store, shop, restaurant or tavern as well as public grounds, areas and parks. Subsection (b) does not ban loitering by itself; it bans loitering, loafing, wandering, standing or remaining idle in a public place in a manner that obstructs a public street, highway, sidewalk or other public place or building by hindering the free passage of vehicles, traffic or pedestrians, or that interferes with the free and uninterrupted use of property or of any business lawfully conducted on or facing that street, sidewalk or building.

Critically, the ordinance is a disperse-first statute. Subsection (c) requires a police officer or other law enforcement officer to order a person committing one of those conditions to stop and to move on or disperse before any violation is complete; only a failure or refusal to obey that order is itself a violation of the section. That two-step structure means simply standing on a De Pere sidewalk, even in a way an officer considers obstructive, is not a citable offense until the person is asked to move and does not comply.

Subsection (d) sets the penalty: a forfeiture not to exceed $200.00, plus costs and penalty assessments, with each violation constituting a separate offense. This is distinct from De Pere's targeted sexual-offender loitering restrictions in section 8-17, which carry a much higher $500.00 to $750.00 minimum forfeiture and apply only to designated offenders near schools, parks and other child safety zones.