Off Beat

Boston temporarily barricaded the ‘cop slide’ amid surge of adult riders

Has the 'cop slide' craze reached its peak?

Boston officials installed barricades blocking access to the City Hall playground, home to a slide featured in a viral video that has inspired countless adults to take it for a test ride. Kit Riemer, Handout via The Boston Globe

By Abby Patkin

August 14, 2023

1 minute to read

Boston’s “cop slide” craze has seemingly reached its peak as city officials moved to barricade the playground equipment last week amid a surge in adult thrill seekers.

Located at City Hall Plaza, the metal slide became a top destination after a video of a Boston police officer’s ill-fated ride went viral. Memes and parodies abounded, the views mounted, and adults flocked to the slide to give it a try.

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At one point, the “cop slide” was even listed as a tourist attraction on Google Maps, where reviewers claimed the slide built character and was “faster than the Green Line.”

However, a couple social media users noticed last week that the slide was barricaded at night.

“This just in: Boston police barricade the entrance of the famous Boston Cop Slide,” X user @Roxomoxo1 wrote in an Aug. 5 tweet. “Do the horrors never cease.”

Another person wrote on Tumblr that the playground was “being patrolled by people who hate fun.”

A spokesperson for Mayor Michelle Wu’s office said that blocking the slide was a temporary measure, “as we were seeing increased activity at night by adults (when the slide is closed).”

They added: “At this point, we are using the existing signage and regular security enforcement to discourage adults from using the slide but are no longer blocking it off at night.”

Notably, there are signs posted at the playground warning that the slide is intended for children ages 5-12 and isn’t meant for adults. But speaking to reporters earlier this month, Wu suggested that more signs may be warranted.

“We want all of our public spaces to be beloved and if it looks like we need to make sure that there’s more signage that this is for children or something, we can do that too,” she said, according to NBC10 Boston.