New Berlin, WI Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Chapter 188's Section 188-6 sets out five separate loitering offenses. Subsection A bars "loiter[ing] or prowl[ing] in a place, at a time or in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals under circumstances that warrant alarm for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity," but builds in a due-process check: before an arrest, an officer must give the person a chance to identify themselves and explain their presence, and no conviction stands if the officer skipped that step or if the explanation, believed at the time, would have dispelled the alarm.

Subsection B separately bars obstructing a street, bridge, sidewalk or crossing by lounging or loitering there after a police officer asks the person to move on. Subsection C targets loitering in groups or crowds on streets, alleys, sidewalks, crossings or bridges in a way that blocks the ordinary free use of those public ways by others passing through. Subsection D reaches loafing in groups on streets, sidewalks, adjacent doorways, crossings or bridges, or on private property without the owner's invitation, once a police officer or a person in authority asks the group to move.

Subsection E covers loitering, lounging or loafing in or about a depot, theater, dance hall, restaurant, store, public sidewalk, public parking lot or other place of assembly after being asked to move by a police officer, and requires the person to comply immediately by leaving. 01 by reference, per Section 188-1.