Littleton, CO Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 6-4-103 of the Littleton City Code makes it unlawful for any person, while on or in a motor vehicle in any public place, to possess an unsealed container of an alcoholic beverage. The Code's definitions section, 6-4-1, gives 'unsealed containers' a specific, broad meaning: any container whose government-applied seal over the cap or top has been altered or broken, or any open container of any type that holds an alcoholic beverage. That definition sweeps in a can with its tab popped, a bottle with the cap off, or a cup poured from a sealed bottle, not just a container that was never sealed to begin with.

The prohibition tracks Colorado's statewide open-container framework but is enforced independently by the Littleton Police Department as a municipal offense, meaning a violation can be charged and prosecuted in Littleton Municipal Court rather than state traffic court. The rule applies to drivers and passengers alike, 'any person or persons,' and it is not limited to the driver's seat; anyone in the vehicle with an open container in a public place is exposed. Because the section requires only presence 'on or in a motor vehicle,' it reaches a car parked on a public street just as much as one that is moving, so long as the vehicle sits in a public place.

The section, adopted by Ordinance No. 14, Series of 2012, sets no fine of its own, so a conviction is punished under the city's general penalty, Section 1-4-1.