Orange County, FL Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Standing around in public is not, by itself, what section 26-51 punishes. The ordinance targets loitering with one of five enumerated purposes: (1) prostitution, assignation, or lewdness; (2) soliciting, inducing, enticing, or procuring another to commit prostitution, lewdness, or assignation; (3) panhandling or solicitation; (4) gambling; and (5) the sale or purchase of a controlled substance under F.S. ch. 893. The second item reaches the procurer separately from the person committing the underlying act, so arranging, enticing, or inducing is its own basis for a charge. The county code defines 'public place' broadly for this purpose, taking in streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and business doorways and extending to any area generally visible to public view, which pushes the ordinance's reach beyond publicly owned property. Section 26-51 applies in the unincorporated area of Orange County, and violations are prosecuted as misdemeanors by county law enforcement under the general penalty provision in section 1-9.