Shreveport, LA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)
Key Facts
- Maximum fine
- $500.00
- Maximum jail term
- 60 days
- Covered locations
- Streets, sidewalks, gutters, alleys, driveways
- Adopted
- Ord. No. 40, 1989, 4-11-89
- Enforcement
- Shreveport Police Department, criminal citation
Summary
Shreveport makes it a criminal offense to urinate or defecate on any street, sidewalk, gutter, alley or driveway within the city. Code of Ordinances Sec. 50-156 carries a fine of up to $500.00, up to 60 days in jail, or both, and Shreveport police enforce it citywide with no exceptions written into the text.
(a)It shall be unlawful for any person to urinate or defecate on the streets, in the gutters, on the sidewalks, or in alleys, driveways, or other places near the streets, alleys, sidewalks, or other places of public resort.(b)Whoever commits the crime of urinating or defecating in public places shall be fined not more than $500.00 or imprisoned not more than 60 days, or both.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 85 Update 1 | Unified Development Code: Supplement 20).
Full Breakdown
Section 50-156 of the Code of Ordinances makes it unlawful for any person to urinate or defecate on the streets, in the gutters, on the sidewalks, or in alleys, driveways, or other places near the streets, alleys, sidewalks, or other places of public resort. The prohibition is written broadly, covering any location near a public thoroughfare rather than being limited to a single type of property, so it reaches parking lots, medians and other public-adjacent ground as well as the roadway itself. 00 or imprisonment for not more than 60 days, or both, giving Shreveport Municipal Court judges room to scale the sentence to the circumstances of the offense.
The ordinance sits in Chapter 50, Article IV of the Code, alongside other offenses against public order such as public drunkenness (Sec. 50-152) and spitting in public places (Sec. 50-157), and it is enforced the same way those neighboring offenses are: by citation from Shreveport police for conduct they observe or that is reported to them. Unlike the smoking or panhandling ordinances in the same chapter, Sec. 50-156 carries no permit exception, buffer distance, or carve-out for special events; the prohibition applies uniformly across the city at all hours.
The section traces to Ord. No. 40, 1989, one of the original codification ordinances that consolidated most of Shreveport's public-order offenses into Chapter 50, and it has not been amended since.
Violations & Fines
A conviction under Sec. 50-156 is punishable by a fine of up to $500.00, imprisonment for up to 60 days, or both, at the discretion of Shreveport Municipal Court. There is no separate civil citation track and no diversion program written into the ordinance itself, so every charge proceeds as a criminal misdemeanor prosecuted by the city attorney's office, the same office that handles the neighboring public-drunkenness and disorderly-conduct offenses in Chapter 50.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is public urination a criminal offense in Shreveport?
What's the maximum penalty for violating Sec. 50-156?
Does the ordinance apply only to streets, or does it cover other public areas too?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Shreveport
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