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The New York City The NYPD said Monday it was continuing to operate in an “elevated threat environment” ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations in Times Square.
More than a million visitors are expected in Times Square on Tuesday to witness the 120th tradition of watching the New Year’s ball drop.
This year, the NYPD’s class of more than 600 recruits will do their first detail on Tuesday night. At a news conference on Monday’s security preparations, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said there are no credible threats to the Times Square event at this time, but the department has been operating in an “elevated threat environment” since the event’s first anniversary. October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.
Mass demonstrations against Israel took place in New York, including encampments, anti-Semitic chants and clashes with police at Columbia University and New York University earlier this year.
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“We remain vigilant,” Tisch told reporters. “The public can expect to see a huge amount of police resources deployed across the area and across the city. This includes members of some of our elite specialist units, including our emergency services unit, who will be strategically deployed across the area on rooftops. Our teams K-9s, who will be patrolling with bomb detection dogs, will be in the sky scanning the event and surrounding areas with special attention to bridges, etc. And of course, our drones will be deployed overhead to monitor crowds in real time and observed any suspicious or unusual activity.”
Last year, the NYPD had about four teams of drones inside a “bow” and “frozen area” around Times Square on New Year’s Eve. That will increase to six drone teams — four inside the bow tie and two on the outer perimeter — this year, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said, adding that mobile drone teams will also operate around Manhattan and the rest of the city, monitoring activity across the city. water too.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference at City Hall after meeting with new “border czar” Tom Homan on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
A reporter at a press conference asked the New York Police Department if any additional security measures were being put in place in Times Square following the alleged terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Germany last week. AND psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia he was reportedly arrested in connection with a December 20 car crash into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, which killed five people, including a nine-year-old boy, and injured more than 200.
“Every year we formulate our plan based on incidents that happen around the world, here in the city,” said Rebecca Weiner, NYPD deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism. “Christmas fairs – you’ve just flagged a terrible incident in Germany which includes Christmas markets – they are a persistent, high-risk target, and so, frankly, are New Year’s celebrations around the world, which is why we put so much emphasis on all the resources that are directed here to keep this city and this event safe. So it’s absolutely attuned to what’s happening overseas.”
Noting the precautions against vehicular ramming incidents, including NYPD trucks and blocked cars at the scene, Weiner added, “We’re very confident this will be a safe and enjoyable evening for everyone.”
People participate in New Year’s confetti testing in Times Square on December 29, 2024 in New York City. On New Year’s Eve, 3,000 pounds of confetti will be released over Times Square. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
The NYPD has also been asked to deal with the growing threat of a Venezuelan gang known as Train Aragua (TdA). Weiner said there is no specific gang-related threat related to the Times Square event, but the TdA matter is “just something that we deal with persistently in a large array of crime issues that we’re very good at throughout the year.”
“Our detective bureau, our patrol bureau, our intelligence and counterterrorism bureau have done a lot of work,” she said. “This is a problem that we’re dealing with, and it’s not specific to New Year’s Eve, Times Square. But some new threats, new patterns of crime that we’ve tried to tackle again very early and very deeply, so we haven’t had a foothold on some of this gang here in a city you’ve seen elsewhere across the country.”
The NYPD will also use pickpocket teams as well as “hotel response teams” to monitor suspicious activity or other “anomalous” events.
Aerial photo taken on New Year’s Eve in Times Square on December 31, 2023. (Craig T Fruchtman/Getty Images)
Tisch said all manholes, mailboxes, vending machines and wastebaskets in the “frozen zone” around Times Square will be either sealed or removed, and frozen security lanes will be created around the event using roadblocks and concrete barriers.
“And, as always, there will be plenty of security measures you won’t see,” the police commissioner said. “No one handles these large-scale events better than the NYPD, but of course we’re not doing it alone. The Joint Operations Center will be fully activated with all of our city, state and federal partners.”
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Amid a series of high-profile subway crimes and murders — notably the acquittal of Daniel Penny and the arrest of an illegal immigrant who allegedly set a sleeping woman on fire — New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD officials continued to urge crowds to take public transportation to the welcome event New Years in Times Square. Despite rain in the forecast, NYPD officials said umbrellas will not be allowed in the viewing area. Backpacks, large bags, coolers, chairs and alcohol are also prohibited.
