New
York City ramps up security for New Year's Eve celebration
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[December 30, 2015]
By Laila Kearney
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A six-ton crystal
ball is ready to be lowered above New York City, colorful paper has been
ground into confetti that will rain on Times Square and about 6,000
police officers will guard revelers on New Year's Eve at one of the
city's highest-profile events.
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"We are ready," Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference on
Tuesday. "We are the best prepared city in the country, the best
prepared city to prevent terrorism and to deal with any event that
could occur."
An estimated one million peo ple are expected in the vicinity of One
Times Square on Thursday for the New Year's Eve dropping of the
ball, a tradition begun in 1907 and broken only during wartime
blackouts.
In the aftermath of Islamist-inspired attacks in San Bernardino,
California, and Paris, the city will draw on its new Critical
Response Command counterterrorism unit, which includes more heavily
armed officers, to patrol Times Square. The unit, trained to detect
and respond to attack plots, was commissioned days before the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Dec/30/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png) Officers communicating with smart phones and loud speakers will be
empowered to shut down the event at any time and evacuate the area,
Police Commissioner William Bratton said, adding that there were no
known credible threats against New York City.
In November after attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead, the
Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS, released a video
that showed a glimpse of Times Square and then a suicide bomber.
Early on Thursday morning police will start closing off major
thoroughfares, using barricades to contain celebrants and detour
traffic. The city will also deploy about 6,000 uniformed and
undercover officers, some 500 more than last year, to patrol Times
Square.
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Backpacks and large bags have been barred from the area. All other
bags will be searched and metal detectors will be used to screen
everyone in the crowd.
Bomb-sniffing dogs and radiation detectors will also be employed
during the event.
“We are very confident that New Year’s Eve in New York City will be
the safest place in the world to be,” said Chief of Counterterrorism
James Waters.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax;
Editing by Toni Reinhold)
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