Waukesha, WI Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 11.05's first clause, Loitering or Prowling, prohibits loitering or prowling in a place, at a time or in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals under circumstances that warrant alarm for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity. The ordinance lists flight from police, refusing to identify oneself, or manifestly trying to conceal oneself or an object as circumstances that can support that alarm. Before anyone can be arrested under this clause, an officer must give the person an opportunity to dispel any alarm by asking them to identify themselves and explain their presence and conduct, unless flight or other circumstances make that impracticable; a conviction is barred outright if the officer skipped that step, or if the explanation given turns out to have been true.

The same section separately bans obstructing a street, bridge, sidewalk, or crossing by lounging or loitering after a police officer has told the person to move on, and bans loafing or loitering in groups or crowds on public streets, sidewalks, or bridges in a way that blocks the ordinary free use of those places by others passing through. Because § 11.05 sets no penalty of its own for these clauses, a violation defaults to the chapter's general penalty at § 11.35 and Municipal Code § 25.05: a forfeiture of $10 to $2,500 for a first offense and $100 to $5,000 for a subsequent offense, plus court costs, enforced by the Waukesha Police Department.