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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, safe and orderly. In the past decade,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], 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,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], 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, 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,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], it has also become more commercial. There was no live music until 2003,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], when the Times Square Alliance organized a sing-along at midnight to ring in 2004: A three-minute rendition of "Ring My Bell," with Anita Ward.
"That went fine,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the world didn't end, there were no riots," 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, 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,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and the NYPD starts planning for next year.