Good news for all you New Year's Eve revelers planning to attend the traditional ball drop in Times Square: the New York police are saying that there are “no specific credible threats” against Sunday’s festivities.
That's good to know. But I don't have a lot of confidence in the NYPD's ability to predict the future. With hundreds of thousands of people in Times Square, it only takes one terrorist to kill a lot of people.
The bomb wouldn't have to be very big. Once it went off, the panic would cause dozens to be trampled. No matter what the police and Mayor Eric Adams say, I would avoid Times Square on Sunday night.
Law enforcement is certainly pulling out all the stops.
New York Times:
Law enforcement will be monitoring an expanded area in Manhattan with canine units and officers on horseback. Helicopters and boats will also be deployed. “The full complement of our public safety apparatus will be on display,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the conference.
Drones will be deployed along the outer perimeter of the security zone surrounding Times Square to monitor potential protests in real time, according to officials.
The Police Department has monitored more than 400 protests since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, Mr. Adams said. Overall, the department has been successful in keeping pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests peaceful, he said. However, there have been “a handful of protesters” who have tried to “embed themselves in some of the protests and bring about disruption,” Mr. Adams said.
The pro-Hamas protesters are planning a demonstration beginning Sunday afternoon. They're calling it “Shut It Down! For Palestine!."
For god's sake! Lose the exclamation points!
The protest is being organized by some sketchy groups, including the People’s Forum, an educational and cultural organization in the city. Any group with "people" or "peoples" in the name is to be automatically rejected as far too self-important to care about anyone but themselves.
In addition to most of the 36,000 NYPD police officers on the job on Sunday night, 631 rookie officers who graduated from the Police Academy on Friday will be deployed. Now that's a "trial by fire."
Each December, millions of people across the country watch the ball — which this year weighs 11,875 pounds and is covered with 2,688 crystal triangles — as it descends the pole at One Times Square to mark the beginning of the new year.
The celebration and ball drop generate in excess of $100 million for the city and is a bonanza for restaurants and hotels. What else are they going to say about safety except "all is well; remain calm"?
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