Queen Anne's County, MD Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 13-1 defines the terms broadly. To loiter means to stand around, remain, or park or remain parked in a motor vehicle at a public place or place open to the public, or to collect, congregate, gather, or be a member of a group or crowd there. A public place covers public buildings and grounds, public parking lots, parks and playgrounds, streets, roads, highways, alleys, lanes, sidewalks and crosswalks, school buildings and school grounds, and vacant lots. A place open to the public reaches inside privately owned businesses, private parking lots and private institutions, including places of worship and cemeteries, plus the elevators, lobbies, halls and corridors open to the public in any apartment building, office, or store.

Standing in one of those places is not a violation by itself. Section 13-3 prohibits loitering only in a manner that interferes with, impedes, or hinders the free passage of pedestrian or vehicular traffic; that interferes with, obstructs, harasses, curses, or threatens another member of the public or does physical harm to that person; or that makes it clear by words, acts, or other conduct that a breach of the peace or disorderly conduct is reasonably likely to result.

Two companion duties sit on top of the prohibition. Under § 13-4, a person loitering in such a place cannot fail to move on at the direction of a uniformed police officer, or an officer not in uniform who provides proper identification, if the failure to move endangers the public peace. Under § 13-5, a person at such a place cannot refuse to give a name and address to an officer when the surrounding circumstances would indicate to a reasonable man that public safety requires the identification.

Section 13-2 states that the article does not prohibit orderly picketing or other lawful assembly. Section 13-6 requires the arresting officer to warn the person first, and a charge is possible only if the person then fails or refuses to stop. An officer who witnesses a violation can issue a notice of violation instead of arresting, and the notice must specify the violation and set the hour, date, and location where the violator must appear before the District Court.