Walton County, GA Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 34-31 of the Code of Walton County, part of Chapter 34's Article II on disorderly conduct, lists specific acts that constitute disorderly conduct in the unincorporated area. Subsection (7) makes it an offense to congregate with others on a public way so as to halt vehicular or pedestrian traffic and then refuse to clear the way when a peace officer or other person with authority orders it. Subsection (9) targets loitering and obstruction directly: after a police officer directs a person to move away, remaining or loitering in front of a church or other place of worship during services, in front of a theater or concert hall, or in front of a business house, is prohibited, as is obstructing any public street, highway, sidewalk or other public place or building by hindering or impeding the free passage of vehicles, traffic or pedestrians.

The ordinance requires an officer's prior direction to move before the loitering itself becomes unlawful, so a bystander is not automatically in violation merely by standing in one of these locations. Section 34-32 sets the penalty: any person violating the mandatory provisions of Article II is guilty of an offense and, upon conviction in the magistrate court of the county, is punished as provided in section 1-12, the county's general penalty section. The article traces to Ordinance No. 91-19 from 1991, with the current version enacted by an ordinance of November 6, 2018 that repealed and replaced the earlier text.