Chatham County, GA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Sec. 11-101 of the Chatham County Code makes it unlawful for anyone in the unincorporated county to 'act in a violent or tumultuous manner,' run fraud schemes in public, play amplified sound beyond a property line without a permit, or commit several other listed acts, and clause (g) specifically bars defecating or urinating on streets, lanes or sidewalks, in the halls or elevators of public or commercial buildings, in any park or playground, or on any property open to public view. The section does not set out a specific fine, so Sec.

2-108, the code's general penalty clause, controls: conviction carries a fine of not more than $500, imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 30 days, labor on the county work gang for not more than 60 days, or any combination the court orders, plus court costs. Each day a violation continues is treated as a separate offense. The Chatham County Police Department enforces the section within the unincorporated area only; Savannah and the county's other cities (Pooler, Garden City, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt, Tybee Island, Bloomingdale, Vernonburg) enforce their own municipal disorderly-conduct codes, so an incident inside any of those city limits falls under the city's ordinance, not this county provision.

Because the offense sits inside a broader disorderly conduct article rather than a stand-alone public urination statute, officers can also charge related clauses of Sec. 11-101, such as indecent exposure under clause (i), when the facts support it.