Richland, WA Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Chapter 9.06 of the Richland Municipal Code, titled Crimes Against Property, used to include § 9.06.080, 'Loitering.' The section's operative text now consists of a single line: 'Repealed by Ord. 20-11,' sitting above the surviving history note '(Ord. 99-76 § 1.01; Ord. 4-85).' Ordinance 20-11 rewrote large portions of Title 9, Crime, in 2011, and the city council chose to strike the loitering offense rather than update it, alongside a companion repeal of § 9.12.100, 'Violation of Court Orders.' Because Richland carries no substitute anti-loitering provision anywhere else in Title 9, standing, sitting, or remaining in a public place is not, by itself, a city crime.

Officers responding to complaints about people gathering outside a business, park, or street corner instead reach for neighboring sections: § 9.14.010 defines disorderly persons, including anyone who fights, uses vulgar or profane language under circumstances creating a reasonable fear of assault, or intentionally obstructs pedestrian or vehicular traffic by linking arms, sitting, or standing in a right-of-way; § 9.06.075 covers second-degree trespass for remaining unlawfully on another's premises; and § 9.12.030 penalizes a group of three or more who refuse to disperse when ordered by a peace officer.

A person merely present on a public sidewalk with no aggravating conduct commits none of these offenses, so Development Services and the Richland Police Department treat loitering complaints as a call for one of these more specific statutes, or for private-property trespass enforcement requested by the property owner, rather than as a freestanding violation.