The Township Council finds that there is a very real
local need to regulate loitering and other disorderly practices and
that there will be a significant factor in minimizing loitering and
other disorderly practices within the Township and should continue
to be updated and amplified in light of Bristol Township's local situation
and facts.
Bristol Township is a stable family community. Individual
responsibility for peaceful and lawful activity is the norm; legal
sanctions to enforce such responsibility have had a demonstrated effectiveness
over the years; as individual responsibility increases, the likelihood
of loitering and disorderly practices decreases; and there is a need
for a prohibition against loitering and disorderly practices which
will achieve and will continue to achieve the public good, safety
and welfare.
Loitering. A person is guilty of loitering if he,
alone or with other persons, gathers for an unlawful or malicious
purpose upon any public property or public right-of-way or around
a dwelling house or any other place used wholly or in part for living
or dwelling purposes belonging to or occupied by another. Notwithstanding
anything contained herein to the contrary, loitering for purposes
of this chapter specifically includes any of the following:
The gathering or congregation of two or more persons
without a permit where such permit is lawfully required by another
chapter of this Code, state statute or federal law.
Disorderly conduct. A person is guilty of disorderly
conduct if, with intent to cause a public inconvenience, annoyance
or alarm or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he does any of the
following:
Public. As used in this section, the word "public"
means affecting or likely to affect persons in a place to which the
public or a substantial group has access; among the places included
are highways, transport facilities, schools, prisons, apartment houses,
places of business or amusement, any neighborhood or any premises
which are open to the public.
Any person who shall violate § 127-2A of this chapter or who shall aid, assist, encourage or abet any other person or persons in the commission of any of the acts prohibited by this chapter shall be guilty of a summary offense and, upon conviction thereof, may be required to pay a fine of up to $300 and, in default of payment of such fine and costs as may be imposed, shall be imprisoned in the county jail for a period of time not to exceed 30 days, provided that in any prosecutions upon any act prohibited by this chapter which can also be prosecuted under any provision of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the penalty shall not exceed that sum provided for under the state statute.
Citations issued under this chapter shall specify
the section and the time, date and place of the offense and sufficiently
describe the offending conduct.
An offense under this chapter is a summary offense
if the actor causes substantial harm or serious inconvenience or if
he persists in loitering or disorderly conduct as those terms are
defined herein after reasonable warning or request to desist.