That roadway (Solidarity Drive) is in Grant Park. A Park District ordinance says that nobody can be in a park between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., “except that persons and vehicles may pass through such parks without stopping, on the more direct walk or driveway leading from their point of entrance to the exit nearest to their point of destination.”
Actually, the cop was right. Grant Park officially closes at 11:00 pm. You can be arrested for being in the park 11:00 pm to 6:00 am without authorization from the Park District. Of course, the law isn’t consistently enforced. You’ll recall that the city tried to enforce the park hours during the 1968 Democratic Convention which led to a bit of a kerfuffle.
The signs on the parking meters don’t grant you permission to be in the park, they just say if you are parking in the park, legally or illegally, you have to pay.
Many state and local loitering laws are unconstitutional, and the way that those laws are enforced is often even worse. When i lived in Baltimore, there was a big kerfuffle over the huge number of bullshit arrests made every month by police. The city police force had a habit of sweeping up dozens of people at a time, and thousands over the course of a few years, in low-level “quality of life” arrests, many of which were merely for “loitering.”
Even after the city’s highest ranking criminal prosecutor, State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy, stated outright at a legislative hearing that many of the arrests were in violation of the Constitution, the cops continued to pick people up on slim or no pretext.
In August 2005, almost 9,000 people were taken to central booking in Baltimore. Of those, 1882 cases…
If it’s illegal to loiter near schools, I don’t think it counts as harassment if the cops ask you to stop committing a crime. It’s actually darned nice of them, given the alternatives.
Sometimes you’re legally obliged to do what the cop says, sometimes you’re not. Either way, defying the police is a gamble and they get to decide if (and how badly) you lose. The system will sort out the finer points of the law long after the guy who knows his rights has been beaten, locked up, and otherwise abused.
The First Amendment doesn’t prohibit such an order. It prohibits such an order to the extent it is based on the presence of a second person. An anti-loitering statute is constitutionally permissible if enforcement is not completely within the discretion of a police officer, and it contains an element of intent.
And to clarify, only parts of the Bill of Rights apply to states (though I’m sure you knew that.)
I enjoy watching the little ones play soccer and baseball, it takes me back to happier times. I always avoided it because I thought it might look suspicious, now I have grandkids that play so I have a good excuse.
WoW! No!
If you read the court case I linked to that directly addressed the OP’s situation (Denver and all), you’ll notice the law was thrown out because it was vague. Reread page 7 paragraph 17 in the link.
With all the talk about Constitutional guarantees, I wonder how this would work in Unincorporated territories where the entire Constitution does not necessarily apply. Can a cop arrest you for not “moving along” out of Old San Juan?
Not to be confused with loitering within tent, which is a misdemeanour but only in Kyrgyzstan and among certain Native American tribes.
(no, this is not a fact-based answer in case you were wondering)
The 1A issue in Morales is freedom of association, which is certainly protected by the First Amendment (the ordinance at issue made it a crime to loiter “with a gang member”.) The OP, sitting alone on a park bench, cannot really raise a freedom of association claim; he’s not associating. Of course, that doesn’t mean the cops can tell him to go about his business just because they feel like it.
I was familiar with Morales before you linked it but should have read it more thoroughly. So it is the DP clause the poster facts would cover, but the 1st might be an argument also, but mainly DP of the 14th.
Regardless of the color of your friend, setting up an expensive camera, in that area and late at night, is a good way to lose your camera. And your wallet. And maybe meet some nice ambulance drivers and emergency room technicians before the night is thru. Sometimes bad things happen to good people when there aren’t any cops around.