Washington County, WI Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Washington County Code § 172-8A targets loitering or prowling in a place, at a time, or in a manner not usual for law-abiding people, under circumstances that warrant alarm for the safety of persons or property nearby, including flight from a peace officer, refusal to identify oneself, or manifest efforts to conceal oneself or an object. Before making an arrest, a peace officer must give the person a chance to dispel that alarm by asking them to identify themselves and explain their presence and conduct, and no conviction stands if the officer skipped that step or if the explanation given turns out to have been true.

Subsections B through E cover obstruction rather than suspicious presence: no person may obstruct a street, bridge, sidewalk or crossing by lounging or loitering after a peace officer asks them to move on, loaf or loiter in groups or crowds on public streets, alleys, sidewalks, crossings or bridges so as to interfere with the ordinary free use of those places, loiter on private premises without the owner's invitation after being told to leave, or loiter in a depot, theater, restaurant, store, public sidewalk, parking lot or similar place of assembly after being asked to move by the owner, person in charge, or a peace officer. Subsection F separately bars loitering on school property during the school day, from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., by anyone not there on official business. Violations of § 172-8 fall under § 172-23's Chapter 1 General Penalty: a forfeiture of $10 to $2,000 plus court costs, with up to 90 days in jail if unpaid.