As people nationwide prepare to pour into the streets on New Year’s Eve, law enforcement officials are preparing for possible terrorist attacks, a concern amplified by recent attacks at public celebrations overseas.
In New York, 65 sanitation trucks — weighted by 15 tons of sand — will dot city blocks tonight around the ball drop in Times Square. The trucks and 100 police cars, strategically placed at intersections in midtown Manhattan, are a new addition this year, law enforcement officials said.
“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 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 in Nice, killing 86 people.
Other cities around the country are taking similar precautions. In Southern California, law enforcement officials are trying to guard against large vehicle attacks at the Tournament of Roses Parade Sunday in Pasadena.
Pasadena police plan to use parked patrol cars and heavy 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 this week.
Several events are planned in the Atlanta metropolitan area today. The 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 firsthand. During the 1996 Summer Olympics, a blast killed one person and injured more than 100 others.
In Las Vegas, where city officials estimate that about 300,000 people will celebrate the new year along the Strip, preparation has been going on for several months.
Michael Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Police Department, said that in previous years, the department positioned barriers to prevent attacks in which trucks are used as weapons. The barriers will form at different junctures of the Strip, Rodriguez said.
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.