Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announces crackdown on loitering, especially at intersections

Video: Griffin’s loitering conference, July 10.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announced a crackdown on loitering in a Thursday news conference.

Griffin specially made note of people who “loiter at intersections.” He explained that people loitering at intersections, in some cases asking for or hoping to receive donations, pose a safety hazard to Arkansas motorists.

“Loitering in and around public roadways, intersections, and traffic stops has grown to an unacceptable level,” Griffin said. “Anyone who has spent time in Arkansas’s larger municipalities over the past few years has undoubtedly had to watch out for people walking into the street, putting everyone’s safety at risk.”

“This has been happening day, after day, after day,” Griffin said.

Griffin explained that hazards are not just caused by people obstructing visibility at intersections, but also by the hazard of people stopping their cars when the light is green to donate to the person loitering, and the person stepping onto the road to receive the donation.

“Arkansans are very generous people,” Griffin said several times, but he explained that, generous or not, loitering at intersections was a growing problem, leading to a growing safety hazard.

He also spoke about the trash being left at intersections by loiterers and how it reflects poorly on cities and counties in the state.

The attorney general continued to explain the strategy to end loitering.

This is the sort of thing that is the responsibility of cities and communities,” he said.

“Anyone who has spent time in Arkansas’s larger municipalities over the past few years has undoubtedly had to watch out for people walking into the street, putting everyone’s safety at risk,” Griffin said.

The attorney general continued: “We have a law that addresses this, but it’s not being enforced. So today I am calling on local law enforcement, and municipal and county leaders to begin enforcing our state’s loitering statute. Act 255 of 2023 fixed the previous constitutional issues with the statute by removing the language at issue, and our law now prohibits individuals from loitering in a harassing or threatening manner, in a way likely to cause alarm to another person, or under circumstances that create a traffic hazard or impediment. This law is constitutionally sound, and local law enforcement should enforce it.”

Griffin explained that while enforcing the loitering law was not a duty of the attorney general’s office, but his office would “act as a backstop” for departments enforcing the law.

Griffin emphasized the enforcement was about loitering, not panhandling.

“Federal courts have established that panhandling, by itself, is protected by the First Amendment, and I absolutely respect those decisions,” Griffin said. “It’s one thing to simply ask people for help. It’s a very different thing to ignore and disregard the laws that keep our streets safe and orderly.”