Last week I was waiting for the bus to go to work. I was standing a little bit away from the bus stand. The police walked past and told me not to loiter. I have been in trouble with the police before. This time I was not doing anything wrong.
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Answer by Pearl Beaumont, Penrith 2570 NSW
- No. Waiting for a bus is a lawful activity. The fact that you have been in trouble before is not enough to prove that you were loitering.
- If the police believe you are loitering in a public place they may either:
- ask you to move on; or
- they may charge you with a loitering offence.
- Generally to do this the police would need to reasonably believe that you were:
- about to commit an offence;
- about to breach the peace;
- going to block pedestrians or traffic; or
- going to put somebody’s safety in danger.
- In some places there is a specific offence of loitering with intent to commit an offence such as stealing. To prove this offence the police would need to have evidence that you were planning to steal something.