appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Associated Press

US officials have sought to assure revellers that the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will be the safest place in the world — heavily secured by thousands of New York Police Department officers, including a new specialised counterterrorism unit.
“Leave the worrying to the NYPD,” said James O'Neill, chief of the department. “People should feel safest this New Year's Eve because we're there.”
Police Commissioner William Bratton said there were no credible threats to the city ahead of the holiday. Yet officials also acknowledged that there were limits to what they could do to ensure security, especially outside the tightly controlled blocks at the heart of the celebration.

In much of the city, the focus will be on fast responses to any emergency rather than preventive measures like security checkpoints.
“The ability to protect everything all the time everywhere is not possible in any venue anywhere in the world,” Bratton said.
About 1 million people are expected to pack the blocks around Times Square to watch the 5,400-kg Waterford crystal ball drop.
Party-goers trying to get close enough to see and hear the musical acts that perform throughout the evening will be screened with hand-held metal detectors twice — once when they enter one of the 14 access points to the secure zone and once when they enter pens where they must stay lest they lose their spots.

Outside that zone, revellers and vehicles can come and go as they please.
At least 6,000 patrol officers will be assigned to the festivities. Visitors will see heavily armed counterterrorism teams and bomb-sniffing dogs.
The bomb squad and a unit specialising in chemical and biological threats will sweep hotels, theatres, construction sites and parking garages. They also will patrol the Times Square subway station, and certain exits will be blocked off.
The NYPD will rely on a network of thousands of closed-circuit security cameras blanketing lower Manhattan, parts of midtown Manhattan and the subway system.

About 20,000 smartphones were handed out to officers this year that will allow police to quickly transmit information on potential threats.
And this year, a specialised counterterrorism unit of 500 highly trained officers will be deployed to respond to any emergency.
The unit was first formed after attacks in January at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Bratton said the department is constantly evolving based on new information as well as the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.

Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth and Demi Lovato are among the musical guests schedule to perform this year. When the clock strikes midnight and the ball drops, so will 1 tonne of confetti — scraps of paper with well wishes for the upcoming year.
After the show, sanitation crews will get to work cleaning up from the celebration, working through the night to dispose of an estimated 50 tonnes of garbage, including confetti, party hats and other leftovers from the revelry.


Why Times Square is being called the 'safest place in the world' for New Year's party

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 01: Couples kiss after midnight in Times Square during the New Years Eve celebration on January 1, 2013 in New York City. An estimated one million revelers from around the world endured long hours of cold weather to have a front seat to this year's star studded celebration. Christopher Gregory/Getty Images/AFP== FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Pedestrians stop to watch confetti fall as members of the Times Square Alliance perform an "air worthiness test" for the confetti that is similar to what will be used for New Year's Eve in New York December 29, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

FILE- In this Dec. 31, 2014 file photo, a police officer checks a man entering a cordoned off area on New Year's Eve in Times Square in New York. On Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015, Police sought to quiet any safety concerns surrounding the New Year’s Eve celebrations for this year’s celebration. "Leave the worrying to the NYPD," said James O'Neill, chief of the department. "People should feel safest this New Year's Eve because we're there." (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

New York City Police Department wireless video recorders are photographed attached to a lamp post on the corner of Knickerbocker Ave and Starr St., Thursday, April 13, 2006 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The cameras along a stretch of Knickerbocker Ave. are the first installment of a high-tech surveillance program to place 500 cameras throughout the city at a cost of $9 million. Hundreds of additional cameras could follow if the city receives $81.5 million in federal grants it has requested to safeguard Lower Manhattan and parts of midtown with a surveillance "ring of steel" modeled after security measures in London's financial district. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

(FILES) New York Police Department officers guard a street as people gather to celebrate the New Year's Eve at the Times Square in New York in this December 31, 2014 file photo. Measures to protect hundreds of thousands of revelers expected to ring in 2016 in New York are "more extensive than ever," Mayor Bill de Blasio said December 29, 2015, amid global fears of an attack during New Year's Eve celebrations. The Big Apple is a popular destination on December 31, with about one million people packing into Times Square every year for the countdown to midnight. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad

Couples kiss in Times Square during 2013 New Year’s celebrations. Security has been boosted for this year’s party. Photo: AFP

News

World