Grand Forks, ND Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Section 9-0107 makes it a crime for a person to act in a disorderly manner if the person acts with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another, or in reckless disregard of the fact that another person is being harassed, annoyed or alarmed by the behavior. Subsection (4) lists urinating or defecating in a public place, other than a facility specifically designated for that purpose, as one of the eight specific acts that satisfy disorderly conduct, alongside fighting, unreasonable noise, obscene language or gestures, obstructing traffic, persistent following, solicitation-related loitering, and creating a hazardous or physically offensive condition.

Because 9-0107 sits in Article 1 of Chapter IX, it is charged as a criminal misdemeanor rather than a civil infraction. The general Article 1 penalty in section 9-0501 applies: a fine of up to $1,500, imprisonment of up to 30 days, or both, at the discretion of the municipal court, which also has the power to suspend the sentence. The Grand Forks Police Department investigates and cites disorderly-conduct complaints, and prosecution proceeds in municipal court like any other misdemeanor charge under the code rather than through the noncriminal traffic or nuisance-fee schedules used elsewhere in the code.