New for New Year's Eve Times Square: NYPD drone will watch over crowd

Susan Miller
Updated

As revelers sandwiched into New York City's Times Square sway and swoon to old acquaintances they don't want to forget Monday evening, there will be a new acquaintance on hand: a tethered drone towering on high.

The police drone will be keeping an observant eye over the nation's most iconic New Year's Eve celebration that is expected to draw up to 2 million people, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The drone will be flying in a cordoned-off area long before the confetti rains down – but will never soar directly above the crowd so it won't be a risk to partygoers, said Terence Monahan, chief of department for New York City Police.

Security for the celebration has continued to evolve in recent years. About 7,000 police officers will man the square this year, including counterterrorism teams with long guns and bomb-sniffing dogs. Sand-laden sanitation trucks and police cars will be positioned as barriers.

Plainclothes officers will mix in the crowd throughout the evening; security will scan from rooftops. Manhole covers will be sealed; radiation detectors will be deployed.

And this year, hotels around Times Square will be monitored by detectives – a tactic to prevent an attack similar to the one in 2017 in Las Vegas in which a gunman used a hotel room to launch a massacre at an outdoor country music festival.

Authorities will also screen all attendees through metal detectors and not allow backpacks, large bags and umbrellas. The New York Police Department will work security alongside the FBI, the New York State Police and the Mass Transit Authority Police, Police Commissioner James O'Neill said.

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But the use of the remote-controlled quadcopter drone will be a first.

“That’s going to give us a visual aid and the flexibility of being able to move a camera to a certain spot with great rapidity through a tremendous crowd,” Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said.

The drone is another weapon in an arsenal of visual surveillance: More than 1,200 fixed cameras and feeds from police helicopters circling above will be tracking the crowd.

The NYPD, which began using drones this month, says they will be activated for search-and-rescue missions, documentation of crime scenes and large events.

The drone will also be on the lookout Monday evening for other drones not authorized to take flight.

O’Neill said there are no known, credible threats to the city or Monday's crystal ball drop.

Revelers should feel secure, he said: “There’s probably going to be a cop within 10 feet of you. If you see something, you can go right to them directly.”

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New for New Year's Eve Times Square: NYPD drone will watch over crowd