Decatur, AL Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Decatur City Code § 8-25 is a single sentence: no person shall loaf or loiter on the grounds or within the enclosure of the grounds of the premises known as the Decatur Cemetery. It has no time-of-day limit and no exception, so it applies around the clock. It sits beside other cemetery rules in chapter 8: no selling or soliciting of orders on the grounds at any hour (§ 8-22), no driving on the grounds from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise (§ 8-23), and no parking on any road or driveway in the same window (§ 8-24). The chapter 16 offenses article carries a cross reference back to § 8-25.

Section 16-27(b) is the only loitering rule that reaches public streets and other open places. It bars anyone from loitering, lurking, remaining or wandering about in a public place, a place within view of the public, or a place open to the public, for the purpose of prostitution, of patronizing a prostitute, or of soliciting for prostitution, while conducting himself or herself in a manner or under circumstances manifesting the purpose of inducing, enticing, soliciting or procuring another to commit an act of prostitution. Purpose is the element: standing in a public place is not enough by itself.

The code lists circumstances that can show that purpose. They include a conviction within the past year under the related sections of the chapter that was known to the arresting officer, beckoning to, stopping or interfering with the free passage of other persons, trying to engage passersby in conversation, and stopping or trying to stop motor vehicle operators by hailing, waving of arms or other bodily gesture. The code also limits convictions: none can rest on proof of a single instance of the described conduct or only one similar act, and none can rest on one instance combined with a prior conviction under sections 16-24 through 16-32. Enforcement belongs to the Decatur Police Department, and cases go to the municipal court.