The Council of the Village of Cridersville, Ohio, hereby declares the following conduct to be a violation of law in the Village of Cridersville:
(A) No person shall loiter or prowl in any public or private place at a time, in a manner or under circumstances which warrant alarm for the safety of persons or security of property in the surrounding area.
(1) Create or cause to be created a danger of breach of the peace;
(2) Create or cause to be created any disturbance or annoyance to the comfort and repose of any person;
(3) Obstruct the free passage of pedestrians or vehicles;
(4) Obstruct, molest or interfere with any person lawfully in any public place;
(5) Purposely and without of the consent of the owner, sit upon, lean against or cause any other contact to be made to any motor vehicle or bicycle owned by another.
(B) No person shall make any unreasonable noise or offensively coarse utterance, gesture, or display or communicate unwarranted and grossly abusive language to any person which is calculated to annoy or disturb the person to, or in whose hearing, they are made.
(C) Whenever the presence of any person in any public or private place is causing or likely to cause any of the conditions enumerated in divisions (A) or (B) herein, any police officer may order that person to leave that place. Any person who refuses to leave after being ordered to do so by a police officer is in violation of this section. A request to leave shall be made prior to an arrest under this section.
(D) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply, unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
LOITERING. Includes the following activities: lingering, hanging around, delaying, sauntering and moving slowly about, where such conduct is not due to physical defects or conditions.
PRIVATE PLACE. Places privately owned but open to the public generally, such as shopping centers, retail stores, transportation terminals, movie theaters, office buildings, restaurants and all distinctly private places such as homes or private residences and apartment houses.
PUBLIC PLACE. Public streets and alleyways, public restrooms, public sidewalks, public parks, public buildings and municipal airports.
SURROUNDING AREA. That area easily and immediately accessible to the person under observation.
(E) Penalty. Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor on the first offense; on a second offense within one year after the first offense, such person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree; on each subsequent offense within one year after the first offense, such person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. This section does not apply to those persons who are engaged in picketing or other related activities associated with a labor/management dispute over wages, hours and working conditions.
(Ord. 1572, passed 11-9-1998)