Ban Public Urination, Suburban Police Say
St. Charles currently has no law against public urination
By MATT BARTOSIK
Updated 12:55 PM CST, Fri, Oct 30, 2009
You probably shouldn't have had that gallon-sized soda from the convenience store, but the clerk mentioned "Free refills" and you were sold. Now you're stuck downtown, doing the potty dance, with no public bathroom in sight. What do you do?
Well, if you're in the far west suburb of St. Charles, you can just relieve yourself almost anywhere you want.
That's because, at present, there is no law that specifically addresses public urination.
"Currently, if an officer observes this happening, then hopefully there's other witnesses to the act," Police Dept spokesperson Paul McCurtain told the Daily Herald. "Then you can use the disorderly conduct charge if it alarms or disturbs the citizen witnesses. The only problem, unfortunately, is when it's just the officer and he's the only one who sees the offender doing this. There is case law that says an officer cannot be alarmed or disturbed."
So it's actually a good thing if a cop catches you whizzing on a wall. He's not "allowed" to be offended, so he can't do anything about it other than tell you to cut it out.
St. Charles police are calling for a new ordinance that would finally make public urination illegal. While offending tinklers wouldn't get any jail time, they would receive a $25 citation.
Be sure to leak this information to all bathroom bypassers.
Matt Bartosik, a "between blogs" blogger, has to go powder his nose.
Copyright NBC Local Media / NBC Chicago
First Published: Oct 29, 2009 12:41 AM CST
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