International Courant
The New York Metropolis Police Division (NYPD) mentioned Monday it continues to function beneath a “heightened risk surroundings” forward of the Occasions Sq. New Yr’s Eve celebration.
Greater than one million guests are anticipated in Occasions Sq. on Tuesday to attend the a hundred and twentieth custom of watching the ball drop on the stroke of the New Yr.
This yr, the NYPD’s class of greater than 600 new recruits will work their first element Tuesday evening. At a press convention about safety preparations on Monday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned there are not any credible threats to the Occasions Sq. occasion presently, however the division has been working in a “heightened risk surroundings” for the reason that one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, assaults in Israel.
New York Metropolis has seen mass demonstrations towards Israel, together with the encampments, antisemitic rallying cries and clashes with police seen at Columbia College and New York College earlier this yr.
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“We stay vigilant,” Tisch advised reporters. “The general public can count on to see an incredible quantity of police assets deployed all through the world and throughout town. That features members of a few of our elite specialised models, together with our emergency companies unit, who shall be strategically deployed all through the world on rooftops. Our Okay-9 groups, who will patrol with bomb sniffing canines. Our aviation unit shall be within the skies scanning the occasion and the encircling areas with particular consideration to the bridges and different landmarks. And naturally, our drones shall be deployed overhead to observe the crowds in actual time and look ahead to any suspicious or uncommon exercise.”
Final yr, the NYPD had about 4 drone groups contained in the “bow tie” and “frozen space” round Occasions Sq. for New Yr’s Eve. That can improve to 6 drone groups – 4 contained in the bow tie and two on the outer perimeter – this yr, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry mentioned, including that cell drone groups will even function round Manhattan and the remainder of town and monitor exercise over the water as properly.
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams speaks throughout a press convention at Metropolis Corridor after assembly incoming “border czar” Tom Homan on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photograph/Yuki Iwamura, File)
A reporter on the press convention requested the NYPD if any further safety measures are being introduced into Occasions Sq. within the wake of the suspected terror assault on a Christmas market in Germany final week. A psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia was reportedly arrested in connection to the Dec. 20 car-ramming at a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, that killed 5 individuals, together with a nine-year-old boy, and injured over 200 others.
“Yearly we formulate our plan primarily based on incidents which are taking place world wide, right here within the metropolis,” Rebecca Weiner, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, mentioned. “Christmas markets – you simply flagged a horrible incident in Germany involving Christmas markets – they are a persistent, high-risk goal, and so, frankly, are New Yr’s Eve celebrations world wide, which is why we put a lot emphasis on the entire assets which are right here targeted on retaining this metropolis and this occasion secure. So it is completely calibrated to what’s taking place abroad.”
Noting precautions towards car ramming incidents, together with NYPD vehicles and blocked vehicles on the scene, Weiner added, “We’re very assured it may be a secure and pleasurable night for all.”
Individuals take part within the New Yr’s Eve Confetti Take a look at in Occasions Sq. on Dec. 29, 2024, in New York Metropolis. On New Yr’s Eve, 3,000 kilos of confetti shall be launched over Occasions Sq.. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Photographs)
The NYPD was additionally requested to handle the rising risk of the Venezuelan gang generally known as Tren de Aragua (TdA). Weiner mentioned there was no particular risk associated to the gang in connection to the Occasions Sq. occasion, however the TdA matter is “simply one thing persistently that we take care of within the massive panoply of crime points that we’re superb at dealing with all yr.”
“There’s been a ton of labor being completed by our detective bureau, patrol bureau, our bureau over in intel and counterterrorism,” she mentioned. “This is a matter that we’re coping with not particular to New Yr’s Eve, Occasions Sq.. However some newly emergent threats, newly emergent crime patterns that now we have, once more, tried to fight very early and really deeply in order that we’ve not had the entrenchment of a few of this gang right here within the metropolis that you’ve got seen elsewhere throughout the nation.”
The NYPD will even make the most of pickpocket groups, in addition to “resort response groups” to observe for suspicious exercise or different “anomalous” occasions.
An aerial picture taken on New Yr’s Eve in Occasions Sq. on Dec. 31, 2023. (Craig T Fruchtman/Getty Photographs)
Tisch mentioned all manholes, mailboxes, merchandising machines and litter baskets within the “frozen zone” round Occasions Sq. shall be both sealed or eliminated, and frozen security lanes shall be created across the occasion utilizing blocker vehicles and concrete limitations.
“And, as at all times, there shall be loads of safety measures that you’ll not see,” the police commissioner mentioned. “Nobody handles large-scale occasions like this higher than the NYPD, however in fact we don’t do it alone. The Joint Operations Heart shall be totally activated with all of our metropolis, state, and federal companions.”
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Amid a string of high-profile subway crimes and killings – notably, Daniel Penny’s acquittal and the arrest of an unlawful immigrant who allegedly set a sleeping lady on hearth – New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD officers nonetheless urged crowds to make use of public transportation to get to the Occasions Sq. New Yr’s Eve occasion. Regardless of forecasts of rain, NYPD officers mentioned no umbrellas shall be allowed within the viewing space. Backpacks, massive baggage, coolers, chairs and alcohol are additionally prohibited.
Danielle Wallace is a breaking information and politics reporter at Fox Information Digital. Story ideas might be despatched to [email protected] and on X: @danimwallace.
