Ogden, UT Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Ogden City Code section 11-5-2 makes public urination a stand-alone offense: a person is guilty when they urinate in a public place while in the presence of another, or under circumstances the person should know will likely cause affront or alarm. 020 and was carried forward by Ordinance 98-46 on June 23, 1998, then amended by the 1999 Code recodification. It sits in chapter 5, 'Offenses Against Public Order And Decency,' alongside the neighboring public intoxication and open container rule (11-5-1) and the public indecency section (11-5-8), which separately covers nudity and sexual acts and is not needed to prove a public urination charge; urinating in view of another person, or where a reasonable person would be affronted, is enough on its own.

The 'in the presence of another' and 'affront or alarm' standards give Ogden police officers discretion to cite based on witness presence or complaint rather than requiring proof of intent to expose oneself. A conviction is a class B misdemeanor, one grade above the class C misdemeanors that cover most of the chapter's other public-order offenses such as mutual combat (11-5-3) and obstructing a sidewalk (11-5-4), and it is punishable under the general penalty schedule in title 1, chapter 4 of the city code.