Are People Tired Of Fornicating In NYC Parks?

Fort Tryon Park, where woodsy walks and other activities happen

It's not uncommon to see a couple canoodling—or even doing it—in one of New York City's parks. Getting caught knocking boots in public has historically meant a potential $100 fine for what the NYPD calls a "sex in park" violation.

But the NYPD is issuing far fewer public-sex tickets in spots where public sex and cruising have long been de rigueur, including in Fort Tryon Park and the Ramble at Central Park. The police department issued just six public-sex summonses in 2018, compared to a whopping 432 in 2007—and the number has been steadily declining over the past decade, as the NY Times reports.

According to data that the NYPD sent Gothamist, the number of public-sex summonses particularly declined from 2007 to 2009, when it dropped from 432 to 193, respectively. "There has been a significant decrease in the number of interactions with the public while crime has continued to decrease," an NYPD spokesperson said over email. "We continue to correct conditions while at the same time using discretion and precision."

It's not immediately clear what's led to such a steep drop over the last ten or so years. One factor may be our current era of peak dating apps and casual encounters that have made it easy to immediately arrange hookups on the likes of Grindr and Tinder. One side-effect of that may be fewer people gravitating toward parks as places to "cruise" and "boink." Conversely, people (particularly millennials and Gen Z-ers) are statistically having less sex than generations before them, as The Atlantic notes.

Public sex has hardly gone away, though. Yelpers have lists of favorite public spots to do the deed in lower Manhattan, and in 2014, The Columbia Daily Spectator published a guide to having sex in New York City's public parks. It could very well be that some New Yorkers are simply opting for different, less woodsy locales to fornicate these days—as the Times notes, attendance at public parks is up, which can maybe put a damper on sneaky public hookups (hey, unless that's your thing).

Or maybe it's that when it comes to park sex, more NYPD officers are simply looking the other way... averting their gaze to a G-rated haven in the middle distance where they don't have to see two (or more) people buckwilding next to the dog run.

We've reached out to the Parks Department to see what they have to say about it. Until then... well, we would say go out and enjoy one of New York City's wonderful public parks this weekend, but it looks like it's going to be overcast, then rainy. Indoors works great too.