Times Square partygoers will be screened
Published 9:00 pm Friday, December 28, 2001
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Police will use handheld metal detectors to check revelers before they enter Times Square for the New Year’s Eve celebration Monday night.
People also will not be allowed to carry large bags, and police will inspect smaller bags and other items, said Chief Allan Hoehl, commanding officer of the Manhattan South patrol borough. Bomb-sniffing dogs and other security measures also will be employed.
Checkpoints will be set up on streets surrounding the Square, where a ball is dropped annually to ring in the new year.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has said that security would be tight this year following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Hoehl said the city expects at least 500,000 people to attend the festivities, the crowd size from last year. About 2 million people crammed into the area for the year 2000 celebration.
The Waterford crystal ball that will drop to ring in the new year will memorialize the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. The triangular panels that form the 6-foot diameter ball will be engraved with the name of each police precinct, Port Authority unit, firehouse, airline and nation that lost members or citizens, along with the names of a number of victims.
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