Oak Park, IL Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 17-1-8 of the Oak Park Village Code defines disorderly conduct, and subsection G targets loitering near schools specifically. The ordinance reaches anyone who loiters, with or without the property owner's consent, on private property, or anyone who loiters on public property within three blocks of a school building, so long as the loitering is paired with at least one of six listed acts: littering; annoying passersby with profane language or obscene suggestions; obstructing people using the public sidewalks; consuming, selling, or giving away alcoholic beverages or drugs, including cannabis; encouraging students to skip school; or refusing to leave the three-block zone when a peace officer orders a dispersal because three or more people are engaged in conduct likely to cause substantial harm, annoyance, or alarm.

The three-block radius runs from the school building itself, not a district boundary, so the restriction follows each school individually rather than covering the Village at large. Because the ordinance is triggered by loitering plus an aggravating act, standing near a school without doing any of the six things listed is not, by itself, a violation. The provision traces to Ordinance 1981-0-56, adopted August 17, 1981, and sits inside Chapter 17, Offenses, alongside the Village's other public-peace prohibitions such as profane language and obstructing the right-of-way. Oak Park is a home-rule village under Article VII, Section 6 of the Illinois Constitution, and the Oak Park Police Department enforces this section.