Rapid City, SD Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

020A: it makes it unlawful for any person to loiter, stand or sit in or upon any public street, alley, sidewalk or crosswalk so as to hinder or obstruct the free passage of persons or vehicles, or so as to annoy or molest persons passing along the same. Unlike subsection A, which requires an officer's warning and persistence before a violation attaches, subsection B does not condition liability on a prior warning; the loitering itself, if it hinders passage or annoys passersby, is the violation.

12, which also addresses general obstructions in subsection A, unlawful placement of goods and merchandise in subsection C, the tree-planter and bench exception in subsection D, and the intoxicated-hindrance rule in subsection E. 020 was last amended by Ordinance 6303 in 2019, building on Ordinance 5984 (2014) and Ordinance 5825 (2012), the loitering language has stood substantially unchanged through those revisions. The Rapid City Police Department enforces the section on the street, and officers routinely rely on it alongside the sidewalk café and vendor provisions of the same chapter when clearing blocked walkways downtown.