# urinating in public



## Guest (May 13, 2006)

Would you make an arrest on this? If so, would it be for disorderly conduct/lewd and lavicious act?

thanks


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## quality617 (Oct 14, 2003)

Unregistered said:


> Would you make an arrest on this? If so, would it be for disorderly conduct/lewd and lavicious act?
> 
> thanks


Indecent exposure, plus there is probably a bylaw/ordinance you could use. Big mouths and street lawyers will get hit with open and gross.


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## Guest (May 13, 2006)

whats the difference between open and gross lewdness and a lewd/lavicious act and which one is the felony and which is the misdemeanor.


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## PBiddy35 (Aug 27, 2004)

300 dollar by-law fine usually stems the flow. Then they get pretty disorderly.


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## heyyou (Nov 30, 2004)

cant charge lewd/lascivious act, conduct must sexual in nature

open and gross lewdness= felony, indecent exposure= misdemeanor


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## wordstew (Jul 29, 2002)

Would urinating in public be a breach of the peace?? My understanding is that a Sheriff can only arrest for a breach of the peace. Could he arrest someone for this and make it stick in court.


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## irish937 (Sep 13, 2005)

Urinating in public=misdemeanor, arrestable in presence 272/53 (indecent exposure). How can it be open and gross?? The felony would be if your suspect is masterbating in public. Read the statutes, they're not really that close, but hey, you're the one who has to go to court and explain it.


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## quality617 (Oct 14, 2003)

Unregistered said:


> whats the difference between open and gross lewdness and a lewd/lavicious act and which one is the felony and which is the misdemeanor.


Chapter 272: Section 16. Open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior. It's all one charge.


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## quality617 (Oct 14, 2003)

irish937 said:


> Urinating in public=misdemeanor, arrestable in presence 272/53 (indecent exposure). How can it be open and gross?? The felony would be if your suspect is masterbating in public. Read the statutes, they're not really that close, but hey, you're the one who has to go to court and explain it.


_Open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior is similar to indecent exposure and is applied primarily to exposure in front of, and sexual conduct with, children in such way as to produce alarm or shock while indecent exposure only requires intentional act of lewd exposure offensive to one or more persons. Commonwealth v Fitta (1984) 391 Mass 394, 461 NE2d 820.

Conduct which produces alarm or shock is element of open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior (GL c 272 § 16) but not for indecent exposure (GL c 272 § 53). Commonwealth v Fitta (1984) 391 Mass 394, 461 NE2d 820.

_It's all in the way the report is written. I charged a guy with urinating in the street with Open and Gross, because he wasn't just content to piss, he also had to wave hello to everyone walking by with it. It flew, because it caused "shock and alarm to the pedestrian public lawfully present and it went beyond simple exposure of suspects genitalia".


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## Guest (May 13, 2006)

indecent exposure- chapter 272 section 53

since this statute is a misdemeanor, are you saying its arrestable because its a breach of the peace? if you are the only one who witness it in lets say the back of an alley, would you still arrest as if it was breach of peace?


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## heyyou (Nov 30, 2004)

Indecent Exposure- G.L.c.272, $ 54 authorizes the warrantless arrest by a police officer of any violator "found in publicway or public place" commiting this offense. In private, summons offender- John Sheft's Criminal Law Book


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## phuzz01 (May 1, 2002)

I say charge him with littering. :rock:


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## lofu (Feb 25, 2006)

How bout cutting the guy a break. Attitude dependant of course. Who among us (males) haven't taken a leak outside.


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## no$.10 (Oct 18, 2005)

lofu said:


> How bout cutting the guy a break. Attitude dependant of course. Who among us (males) haven't taken a leak outside.


Right, but the thing is, how many times have you (or any PO) caught a fella engaged in some "alternative activity" in the woods (rest area, hiking trails, etc) whereby the immediate excuses is, reliably, "I was just taking a piss."

If the person is legitimately urinating, I am willing to guess he is most often not arrested, (at least not by me) but when it is clearly the same old excuse...he is going to be charged with something...

ALSO, I am quite willing to bet money that no one arrested for "Lewd and Lascivious" or "Open and Gross" is going to admit that they were doing anything other than urinating.

:sh:


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## Goose (Dec 1, 2004)

Wolfman said:


> Pepper spray in the 'nads?


Hah! I ran into that situation a few weeks ago after rolling right up on someone. Afterwards I was thinking that if he was drunk enough to try to pee on me, I should have sprayed Mr. Happy.


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## lofu (Feb 25, 2006)

no$.10 said:


> Right, but the thing is, how many times have you (or any PO) caught a fella engaged in some "alternative activity" in the woods (rest area, hiking trails, etc) whereby the immediate excuses is, reliably, "I was just taking a piss."
> 
> If the person is legitimately urinating, I am willing to guess he is most often not arrested, (at least not by me) but when it is clearly the same old excuse...he is going to be charged with something...
> 
> ...


Point taken. It just seemed to me some of the posters were advocating charging a drunk peeing in an alley. The situation you describe is a good example of when to charge him.


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## HPD104 (Jan 12, 2006)

lofu said:


> How bout cutting the guy a break. Attitude dependant of course. Who among us (males) haven't taken a leak outside.[/QUOTE
> 
> Cops dont speed either right?


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## Officer Dunngeon (Aug 16, 2002)

lofu said:


> How bout cutting the guy a break. Attitude dependant of course. Who among us (males) haven't taken a leak outside.


Even if I was in a completely remote and seemingly isolated area, I wouldn't pop a squat in public in broad daylight or dead darkness no matter how bad I had to "go." It shouldn't make a difference if you're a man or a women, if you're urinating in public, no matter how seemingly isolated the area or hidden away you are, you're taking a risk of someone coming along and witnessing you in the act. Personally, I don't get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside everytime I see some guy with his back to me, a dark spot growing on the wall in front of him after leaving the bar and a pungent aroma of pee filling my nostrils. That goes additionally for females squatting behind cars after a concert or whatever. How about finding a restroom like a civilized human being instead of whipping it out and peeing wherever the hell you feel like it?


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## lofu (Feb 25, 2006)

HPD104 said:


> lofu said:
> 
> 
> > How bout cutting the guy a break. Attitude dependant of course. Who among us (males) haven't taken a leak outside.[/QUOTE
> ...


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## Guest (May 14, 2006)

Officer Dunngeon said:


> Even if I was in a completely remote and seemingly isolated area, I wouldn't pop a squat in public in broad daylight or dead darkness no matter how bad I had to "go." It shouldn't make a difference if you're a man or a women, if you're urinating in public, no matter how seemingly isolated the area or hidden away you are, you're taking a risk of someone coming along and witnessing you in the act. Personally, I don't get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside everytime I see some guy with his back to me, a dark spot growing on the wall in front of him after leaving the bar and a pungent aroma of pee filling my nostrils. That goes additionally for females squatting behind cars after a concert or whatever. How about finding a restroom like a civilized human being instead of whipping it out and peeing wherever the hell you feel like it?


Wow, Somebody's a little up-tight.


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## quality617 (Oct 14, 2003)

Unregistered said:


> Wow, Somebody's a little up-tight.


Sit on my porch in the middle of Allston some weekend summer night and watch the number of people who either just break it out on the street, or just wander into my backyard under the porch to take a leak because they couldn't be bothered to use the bathroom in the bar they just walked out of less than one minute ago.

You'd be up-tight too.


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## kilcoyne (Feb 3, 2006)

no arrest, just $1,087.50 county ordinance violation (Richland County, SC)
less paperwork, and the fine is mandatory, so its higher than if you were to arrest him and charge him with indecent exp.


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## Officer Dunngeon (Aug 16, 2002)

Unregistered said:


> Wow, Somebody's a little up-tight.


Up tight? Not at all (he don't know me very well, do he?).

Raised with a sense of decency, class and consideration for others? Absolutely. Also, my personal feeling of being seriously turned off by the sight of a public pisser and the aroma of urine wafting through the air on a hot summer's night has a lot to do with my disdain for the action. However, I don't pass judgement on others monkeyea:<~~~~~YOU) :mrgreen:. If that sort of thing "does it" for you, pal, then by all means, indulge! :roll:


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## Capt. Kirk (Nov 21, 2002)

Officer Dunngeon said:


> If that sort of thing "does it" for you, pal, then by all means, indulge! :roll:


:L: She said Pal!!!!!!!!!


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