New Hampshire Revised Statutes
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 644:2 (2026)
Disorderly Conduct
✓ current as of May 2026
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644:2 Disorderly Conduct. –
A person is guilty of disorderly conduct if:
I. He knowingly or purposely creates a condition which is hazardous to himself or another in a public place by any action which serves no legitimate purpose; or
II. He or she:
(a) Engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior in a public place; or
(b) Directs at another person in a public place obscene, derisive, or offensive words which are likely to provoke a violent reaction on the part of an ordinary person; or
(c) Obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic on any public street or sidewalk or the entrance to any public building; or
(d) Engages in conduct in a public place which substantially interferes with a criminal investigation, a firefighting operation to which RSA 154:17 is applicable, the provision of emergency medical treatment, or the provision of other emergency services when traffic or pedestrian management is required; or
(e) Knowingly refuses to comply with a lawful order of a peace officer to move from or remain away from any public place; or
III. He purposely causes a breach of the peace, public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creates a risk thereof, by:
(a) Making loud or unreasonable noises in a public place, or making loud or unreasonable noises in a private place which can be heard in a public place or other private places, which noises would disturb a person of average sensibilities; or
(b) Disrupting the orderly conduct of business in any public or governmental facility; or
(c) Disrupting any lawful assembly or meeting of persons without lawful authority.
III-a. When noise under subparagraph III(a) is emanating from a vehicle's sound system or any portable sound system located within a vehicle, a law enforcement officer shall be considered a person of average sensibilities for purposes of determining whether the volume of such noise constitutes a breach of the peace, public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, and the officer may take enforcement action to abate such noise upon detecting the noise, or upon receiving a complaint from another person.
IV. (a) Whenever a peace officer has probable cause to believe that a serious threat to the public health or safety is created by a flood, storm, fire, earthquake, explosion, riot, ongoing criminal activity that poses a risk of bodily injury, or other disaster, the officer may close the area where the threat exists and the adjacent area necessary to control the threat or to prevent its spread, for the duration of the threat, until related law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical service operations are complete, by means of ropes, markers, uniformed emergency service personnel, or any other reasonable means, to any persons not authorized by a peace officer or emergency services personnel to enter or remain within the closed area.
(b) Peace officers may close the immediate area surrounding any emergency field command post activated for the purpose of abating any threat enumerated in this paragraph to any unauthorized persons, whether or not the field command post is located near the source of the threat.
(c) Any unauthorized person who knowingly enters an area closed pursuant to this paragraph or who knowingly remains within the area after receiving a lawful order from a peace officer to leave shall be guilty of disorderly conduct.
V. In this section:
(a) "Lawful order" means:
(1) A command issued to any person for the purpose of preventing said person from committing any offense set forth in this section, or in any section of Title LXII or Title XXI, when the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that said person is about to commit any such offense, or when said person is engaged in a course of conduct which makes his commission of such an offense imminent;
(2) A command issued to any person to stop him from continuing to commit any offense set forth in this section, or in any section of Title LXII or Title XXI, when the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that said person is presently engaged in conduct which constitutes any such offense; or
(3) A command not to enter or a command to leave an area closed pursuant to paragraph IV, provided that a person may not lawfully be ordered to leave his or her own home or business.
(b) "Public place" means any place to which the public or a substantial group has access. The term includes, but is not limited to, public ways, sidewalks, schools, hospitals, government offices or facilities, and the lobbies or hallways of apartment buildings, dormitories, hotels or motels.
VI. Disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor if the offense continues after a request by any person to desist; otherwise, it is a violation.
A person is guilty of disorderly conduct if:
I. He knowingly or purposely creates a condition which is hazardous to himself or another in a public place by any action which serves no legitimate purpose; or
II. He or she:
(a) Engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior in a public place; or
(b) Directs at another person in a public place obscene, derisive, or offensive words which are likely to provoke a violent reaction on the part of an ordinary person; or
(c) Obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic on any public street or sidewalk or the entrance to any public building; or
(d) Engages in conduct in a public place which substantially interferes with a criminal investigation, a firefighting operation to which RSA 154:17 is applicable, the provision of emergency medical treatment, or the provision of other emergency services when traffic or pedestrian management is required; or
(e) Knowingly refuses to comply with a lawful order of a peace officer to move from or remain away from any public place; or
III. He purposely causes a breach of the peace, public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creates a risk thereof, by:
(a) Making loud or unreasonable noises in a public place, or making loud or unreasonable noises in a private place which can be heard in a public place or other private places, which noises would disturb a person of average sensibilities; or
(b) Disrupting the orderly conduct of business in any public or governmental facility; or
(c) Disrupting any lawful assembly or meeting of persons without lawful authority.
III-a. When noise under subparagraph III(a) is emanating from a vehicle's sound system or any portable sound system located within a vehicle, a law enforcement officer shall be considered a person of average sensibilities for purposes of determining whether the volume of such noise constitutes a breach of the peace, public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, and the officer may take enforcement action to abate such noise upon detecting the noise, or upon receiving a complaint from another person.
IV. (a) Whenever a peace officer has probable cause to believe that a serious threat to the public health or safety is created by a flood, storm, fire, earthquake, explosion, riot, ongoing criminal activity that poses a risk of bodily injury, or other disaster, the officer may close the area where the threat exists and the adjacent area necessary to control the threat or to prevent its spread, for the duration of the threat, until related law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical service operations are complete, by means of ropes, markers, uniformed emergency service personnel, or any other reasonable means, to any persons not authorized by a peace officer or emergency services personnel to enter or remain within the closed area.
(b) Peace officers may close the immediate area surrounding any emergency field command post activated for the purpose of abating any threat enumerated in this paragraph to any unauthorized persons, whether or not the field command post is located near the source of the threat.
(c) Any unauthorized person who knowingly enters an area closed pursuant to this paragraph or who knowingly remains within the area after receiving a lawful order from a peace officer to leave shall be guilty of disorderly conduct.
V. In this section:
(a) "Lawful order" means:
(1) A command issued to any person for the purpose of preventing said person from committing any offense set forth in this section, or in any section of Title LXII or Title XXI, when the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that said person is about to commit any such offense, or when said person is engaged in a course of conduct which makes his commission of such an offense imminent;
(2) A command issued to any person to stop him from continuing to commit any offense set forth in this section, or in any section of Title LXII or Title XXI, when the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that said person is presently engaged in conduct which constitutes any such offense; or
(3) A command not to enter or a command to leave an area closed pursuant to paragraph IV, provided that a person may not lawfully be ordered to leave his or her own home or business.
(b) "Public place" means any place to which the public or a substantial group has access. The term includes, but is not limited to, public ways, sidewalks, schools, hospitals, government offices or facilities, and the lobbies or hallways of apartment buildings, dormitories, hotels or motels.
VI. Disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor if the offense continues after a request by any person to desist; otherwise, it is a violation.
Source. 1971, 518:1. 1983, 200:1. 1985, 309:1. 2005, 192:1, 2, eff. June 30, 2005; 260:2, 3, eff. July 22, 2005.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 56
cases (10 in the last 5 years), 1975–2026 · leading case: State v. Biondolillo, 55 A.3d 1034 (N.H. 2012).
State v. Biondolillo, 55 A.3d 1034 (N.H. 2012). “), of disorderly conduct, see RSA 644:2, 11(e) (2007). He argues: (1) that his conviction violates his constitutional right to free speech; (2) that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction; and (3) that, for several reasons, the trial court committed plain error.”
State v. Boulais, 834 A.2d 380 (N.H. 2003). “See RSA 644:2, 11(b) (1996). On appeal, Boulais argues that the trial court misconstrued RSA 644:2, 11(b) and that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions.”
State v. Comley, 546 A.2d 1066 (N.H. 1988). “The defendant appeals his conviction under RSA 644:2, 111(b) for disorderly conduct, following a trial in Concord District Court (Perkins, J.”
State v. Nickerson, 424 A.2d 190 (N.H. 1980). “This is a criminal case involving a total of nine defendants who were charged with disorderly conduct (RSA 644:2 I) because of their participation in a protest demonstration directly outside the gates of the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station on August 25, 1978.”
State v. Gaffney, 795 A.2d 243 (N.H. 2002). “) of one count of disorderly conduct, see RSA 644:2, 111(a) (1996), and one count of criminal trespass, see RSA 635:2, 11(b)(2) (1996).”
State v. Lantagne, 83 A.3d 397 (N.H. 2013). “See RSA 644:2 (2007). The defendant was transported to the Salem Police Department, where detectives interviewed him.”
State v. Murray, 605 A.2d 676 (N.H. 1992). “The defendant, Sondra Murray, was charged with disorderly conduct, RSA 644:2, 111(a), resisting arrest, RSA 642:2, and possession of marijuana, RSA 318-B:2, misdemeanors all reduced by the State to violations before trial, see RSA 625:9, VI (Supp.”
Byrnes v. City of Manchester, 848 F. Supp. 2d 146 (D.N.H. 2012). “” RSA 644:2, 11(b). When a disorderly conduct charge is based on provocative words, those words must, consistently with First Amendment protection, constitute “fighting words,” or words that “create a substantial and unjustifiable risk of violent reaction on the part of an…”
State v. Pseudae, 908 A.2d 809 (N.H. 2006). “2005), one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, see RSA 644:2 (1996) (amended 2005), and one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest or detention, see RSA 642:2 (1996), following a jury trial in Superior Court (Smukler, J.”
Baer v. Leach, 2014 DNH 214 (D.N.H. 2015). “Baer was later charged with disorderly conduct under RSA 644:2, II(e), which prohibits “knowingly refus[ing] to comply with a lawful order of a peace officer to move from .”
State of New Hampshire v. Paul A. Costella, 166 N.H. 705 (N.H. 2014). “2013); RSA 651:6, 1(f) (2007); RSA 644:2 (2007). The two criminal threatening convictions were subject to an extended term of imprisonment under RSA 651:6,1(f), the “hate crime statute.”
State v. Bernard, 959 A.2d 193 (N.H. 2008). “The defendant points out that, under RSA 644:2, IV, V(a)(3) (2007), a peace officer may not lawfully order a person to leave his or her own home during a flood.”
— N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 644:2(II)(c) — 2 cases
Petrello v. City of Manchester, et al., 2017 DNH 053 (D.N.H. 2017).
Petrello v. City of Manchester, et al., 2017 DNH 173 (D.N.H. 2017).
— N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 644:2(II)(e) — 1 case
Torres (D.N.H. 2026).
— N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 644:2(III)(a) — 3 cases
Frost et al v. Town of Hampton et al, 2010 DNH 072 (D.N.H. 2010).
Torres (D.N.H. 2026).
MacDonald v. Town of Windham (D.N.H. 2007).
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