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Securing New Year's Eve in Times Square
NEW YORK – It's the biggest public party in the country. Nearly a million revelers will cram into the streets of Times Square to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve.
It's also remarkably crime-free,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], safe and orderly. In the past decade, there have been few arrests and virtually no major problems funneling people in and out of the confetti-filled streets to ring in the New Year.
That's due mostly to what the partygoers don't notice: Throngs of police and counterterrorism officers blanketing the area, working from a security plan specifically tailored for the event.
Manhole covers are sealed. Counter-snipers are stationed on secret rooftops. Officers carry beeper-sized radiation detectors. Plainclothes officers are stationed in the pens with the crowds,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], along with a uniformed presence and undercover officers. Bomb-sniffing dogs are on site. Purses are searched. Checkpoints are set up and perimeters are created using concrete blocks. Passing vehicles are checked for safety. Haz-mat teams are on standby.
Police also station officers on boats in New York Harbor and send additional uniformed officers to every major transportation hub in the city. They monitor fireworks displays at the Statue of Liberty and Central and Prospect Parks. Officers on horseback patrol Times Square.
As the holiday has become more secure and organized, it has also become more commercial. There was no live music until 2003, when the Times Square Alliance organized a sing-along at midnight to ring in 2004: A three-minute rendition of "Ring My Bell,Cleanup of oil-tainted Gulf Coast nears end," with Anita Ward.
"That went fine,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the world didn't end, there were no riots,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," Tompkins said. "And we were able to make it a bigger affair." A large outdoor performance space was set up in recent years and the party starts earlier.
After the clock strikes 12 and the glittering, Waterford crystal ball drops,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the crowd disappears quickly. It's like pulling the plug in a bathtub, with nearly a million people fanning out to continue their night.
The sanitation workers start to clean up, and the NYPD starts planning for next year.