Ogden, UT Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Ogden City Code section 11-5-9 lets the police chief designate specific areas of the city where 'gang loitering' enforcement applies, based on a written finding that criminal street gangs have used loitering there to control territory, intimidate residents or conceal illegal activity. The chief must consult officers with gang expertise, other department personnel, elected officials and community organizations before designating an area, and must periodically review the designations. Within a designated area, when an officer reasonably believes a person is a criminal street gang member engaged in gang loitering with one or more others, the officer must first inform the group they are loitering unlawfully, order them to disperse out of sight and hearing of the location, and warn that failure to comply or continued loitering there is arrestable.

The code defines a 'criminal street gang' as an organization of three or more people sharing a common name or sign whose members have engaged in a pattern of predicate gang crimes spanning drug offenses, assault, homicide, robbery, weapons offenses and more under specific titles of the Utah Code. Advocacy activity protected by the state or federal constitution is exempt, and the chief must issue written procedures preventing enforcement against constitutionally protected collective advocacy. A violation is a class B misdemeanor; failing to obey a dispersal order, or continuing to loiter within sight or hearing of the order, additionally carries a civil penalty of $100 to $1,000 per offense, up to six months in jail, or both, with a mandatory minimum five-day jail sentence for a second or subsequent offense. Courts may also impose up to 120 hours of community service. All enforcing officers must undergo gang-identification training.