Crime statistics show a rise in the number of perverts committing indecent acts and exhibitionism on New York City’s streets, and critics blame lax laws and a broken mental health system for this disturbing phenomenon.
Reports of perverts masturbating in public increased 51% to 378 by June 30, up from 251 during the same period in 2023, according to NYPD data.
Meanwhile, police issued 159 criminal citations across New York City to citizens for exposing their genitals (and sometimes for urinating) through June 30, according to city data. That’s a staggering 396% increase from the 32 issued in 2023.
“There’s just so much trash I don’t want to see,” Greenwich Village resident Brian Maloney told The Washington Post.
According to footage provided to The Washington Post by Maloney, three weeks ago a naked man with long hair was seen masturbating in the pouring rain while sitting on a chair outside the Washington Square Diner.
A few days later, he said, a woman in a subway car decided to parade naked in front of passengers.
“We’re exhausted,” Maloney said. “We’re asking for help, we’re asking lawmakers for help, and we’re basically being ignored.”
At a July meeting of Community Board 1, which covers Manhattan’s Financial District and TriBeCa neighborhoods, residents were infuriated that police had not responded to complaints about a grime-covered serial masturbator with a Marine Corps tattoo on his back.
First Precinct Commander Capt. Joel Rosenthal warned outraged locals that even if police caught him red-handed, the twisted pervert would likely be released quickly.
“This is a summons and a non-bailable offence so he will be released within two hours,” he said.
Carolyn D. Gorman, a mental illness policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute, said the anti-incarceration movement, combined with the city’s inability to hospitalize and effectively treat people with severe mental illness, has led to an alarming surge in deviant behavior.
“If we don’t enforce our laws to keep individuals out of jail and prison, if we don’t get psychiatric treatment because the mental health system neglects people with mental illness, then these people end up on the streets,” she said.
Additional reporting by Tina Moore.
