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NYPD: Times Square Safest Place on Earth for New Year's Eve

Associated Press

   NEW YORK - New York City's counterterrorism czar expects Times Square
   to be "the safest place on the planet Earth" on New Year's Eve.

   Thousands of police officers will be on duty for Tuesday night's
   festivities, along with specialized units armed with long guns,
   bomb-sniffing dogs and other measures.

   For the first time, police drones are expected to keep watch over the
   big, confetti-filled celebration -- a year late after rain grounded the
   department's unmanned eye-in-the-sky last year.

   This year's forecast calls for some clouds, but no rain and none of the
   bitter cold that iced out spectators two years ago.

   The NYPD's Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism,
   John Miller, said stacking various security tools and techniques gives
   police "multiple chances to catch something coming through."

   "Times Square is probably going to be the safest place on the planet
   Earth on New Year's Eve because nobody else puts that kind of effort
   into an event like this," Miller said.

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