Ringing in the new year in safety
Cities across U.S. take extra measures to thwart attacks, especially by trucks.
As revelers nationwide prepare to pour into the streets on New Year’s Eve, law enforcement officials are bracing for potential terrorism threats, amplified by recent attacks at public celebrations overseas.
In New York, 65 sanitation trucks — weighted by 15 tons of sand — will dot city blocks on Saturday night around the legendary ball drop in Times Square. The trucks, along with 100 patrol cars, strategically placed at intersections in midtown Manhattan, are a new addition this year, said law enforcement officials.
“It is a changing world. And we have to look around at what is going on not just in the United States, but all around the world,” New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill said at a news conference this week to discuss security preparations.
The sanitation trucks are meant to prevent terrorist attacks like those in Berlin this month and Nice, France, over the summer.
In Berlin, a man hijacked a 40-ton truck and crashed it into an outdoor Christmas market, killing 12 people. The attack came five months after a cargo truck plowed into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, leaving 86 people dead.
Cities around the country are taking precautions to avoid similar horrors. In Southern California, law enforcement officials are trying to guard against large vehicle attacks at the Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 2 in Pasadena.
‘If you think someone’s life might be in danger, tell a police officer. Let the professionals do their work.’ — Bill de Blasio, New York mayor on his advice to revelers
Pasadena police plan to use parked patrol cars and water-filled barricades at more than 50 intersections along the parade’s route.
“When [attackers] use vehicles as a ramming tool, typically it’s because they’re able to generate a lot of speed. So we’re trying to take the speed out of that equation,” Pasadena Police Chief Phillip L. Sanchez said earlier this week.
Several events are planned in the Atlanta-metro area on Saturday. The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Parade will blanket the streets of downtown and, according to Atlanta police, about 175,000 people are expected to attend the annual Peach Drop — an event similar to the festivities in Times Square.
Law enforcement officials in Atlanta have faced terrorism first-hand. During the 1996 Summer Olympics a blast killed one person and injured more than 100 others.
In Las Vegas, where city officials estimate about 300,000 people will celebrate the new year along the Strip, preparation has been underway for several months.
Michael Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Police Department, said that in previous years the department has positioned barriers to prevent potential terrorist attacks in which trucks are used as weapons. These barriers will form at different junctures of the Strip, Rodriguez said.
“This is standard for us,” said Rodriguez, who declined to say what kind of barriers — or how many — the department will use.
While addressing the public this week, law enforcement officials in Las Vegas called on tourists to follow rules put in place for New Year’s Eve, which includes a ban on backpacks and glass bottles. Rodriguez said about 1,000 uniformed officers will patrol the Strip Saturday night.
O’Neill, the New York police commissioner, said his department is working with the FBI and counter-terrorism officials to ensure the safety of the nearly 2 million people expected to watch the ball drop.
“Can we ensure that nothing will ever happen? You know, this is — it’s an open city, it’s an open society, but we have — the security plan we have in place for Time Square,” O’Neill said. “There are multiple layers there. … The NYPD along without law enforcement partners will make sure we do our absolute best to keep people safe.”
Among the items New York police have banned party-goers from carrying are large backpacks and coolers.
This fall, a man placed an improvised bomb in a garbage dumpster on West 23rd Street in Manhattan, shattering windows and spewing glass on passers-by. Twenty-nine people were slightly injured. A similar device, made out of a pressure cooker, was found unexploded a few blocks away on West 27th Street.
The sand-filled trucks being deployed for New Year’s were previously used in November at the Thanksgiving Day parade and have been stationed outside the Fifth Avenue home of President-elect Donald Trump.
“Those sand trucks are crucial to our strategic approach this year,” said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, alongside O’Neill at press conference earlier this week.
Still, de Blasio insisted that the best defense against any potential terrorist threat is for patrons to be on guard.
“The rule is real simple. If you think something is happening that makes you worried, go tell an officer,” he said. “If you think someone’s life might be in danger, tell a police officer. Let the professionals do their work that they do so well.”