Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill: I want to tell you about some of what we’ve put together for our New Year’s Eve celebrations. We want to let people know what they can expect as they brave the cold – and it’s certainly going to be cold our in Times Square – and any number of other areas where festivities are taking place around the five boroughs. In a minute, Mayor de Blasio is going to say a few words, and we have Bill Sweeney, the FBI’s assistant Director in Charge of the New York office, as well as our Chief of Counterterrorism Jimmy Waters, and Chief of Patrol Terry Monahan will go into some of the specifics about how we secure events of this size and scope. And then, we’ll take your questions.
As we do every year, we began preparing for New Year’s Eve just after the final piece of confetti was cleaned up last January 1st. As you know, the men and women of the NYPD do an incredible job of planning for and securing large-scale events like this on a very regular basis. This is part of what we do. But nothing we do in our profession do we do alone. All throughout the year, we work closely with Bill’s people at the FBI and our Joint Terrorist Taskforce, as well as many other local, State, and federal agencies, including the ATF, the MTA, the Port Authority, and the State police. It’s those professional partnerships that always make our planning successful. All of this helps us to live on our primary mission of keeping people safe. We want to make sure that the approximately 2 million people who will converge in the vicinity on Times Square on Sunday night also feel safe.
Here in New York – and again, it’s always in conjunction with our law enforcement partners – we constantly monitor and asses the threat stream. It’s an around-the-clock task and a necessary one. We employ some of the best intelligence analysts who constantly decipher and share data with our partners – add to that the literally millions of pair of eyes and ears of vigilant New Yorkers who recognize and understand that to achieve true public safety it takes everyone doing their part. It’s definitely a shared responsibility.
You’ve heard it before and it definitely bears repeating – that if something doesn’t look right to you, it makes you feel uncomfortable, call 9-1-1, or tell a cop and give us a chance to investigate. I can report at this time there are no direct, credible threats to New York City, to Times Square specifically, or to any of our New Year’s Eve events generally. Out of an abundance of caution, however, you’ll see a stronger police presence than we’ve seen even in recent years, and that’s prudent given the terror events we have seen and studied around the world, as well as the three incidents here in New York over the past 15 months, including the two attacks within six weeks of one another – on October 31st, along the West Side Highway; and on December 11th, inside the subway passage at 42nd Street and 8th Avenue.
In the lead-up to this Sunday, we’ve been working closely in recent weeks with the Times Square Alliance and more than 600 businesses in the immediate area, and the dozens and dozens of hotels and other venues in Midtown Manhattan. We know from experience that the first spectators on Sunday will begin showing up early in the day. It seems that every year they get earlier and earlier. And in addition to those enjoying the live performances and the ball drop in Times Square, there will also be thousands of Broadway theater goers and thousands more enjoying private parties, concerts at bars, clubs, restaurants, and other spots around the City. By now, New Yorkers are used to seeing a large counter-terrorism presence employed at all major events since 9/11. And obviously, Midtown is going to be exceptionally crowded on Sunday. I urge anyone coming into the City to leave their cars at home and use public transportation. If you do drive, you can expect to see safety and DWI checkpoints. The bottom line is this, there will be much the public will see and much the public will not see. And the takeaway from our preparation is this, people will be safe and they should feel safe too, because the NYPD and our partners are well prepared.
This is going to be one of the most well policed, best protected events at one of the safest venues in the entire world. We will ensure that New York City has yet another safe and enjoyable New Year’s Eve celebration as we do every year.
Mayor Bill de Blasio: I want to commend you and your team for the exceptional preparations that you’ve made in anticipation for New Year’s Eve. A particular thanks to First Deputy Commissioner Ben Tucker, to Deputy Commissioner John Miller, and to Chief Jim Waters for all of the work they have done to get everyone ready for this crucial moment. And I want to acknowledge and thank our partner from the federal government, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Bill Sweeney, who has been a tremendous partner in all we do.
I want to say at the outset, we’re going to talk about this topic and take questions on this and other police matters, and then we’re going to be talking about the property tax issue in light of the federal tax legislation. Just want to let everyone know there will be an update on that before we go into general off-topic questions.
This event every year – New Year’s Eve – is one of the things that people all over the country, all over the world most associate with New York City. It’s a moment of great pride for New York City – a huge, joyous event. And literally people all over the world ring in the New Year through watching this event in Times Square, and they think of it as the ultimate expression of crossing over into a new year. That puts a huge responsibility on all of us to keep it safe. It’s a point of a pride for New York City. New York City is one of the few places in the world that could host an event like this and provide this level of security. It makes us very proud, but we’re also quite aware of the amount of work that has to go into it and the agility – the ability to constantly update our strategies and improve them as we get new information each year. So, the NYPD has done a great job preparing to protect the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who will be coming to New Year’s Eve.
We understand why we are a target. Unfortunately, it’s a sad reality, but we understand it and, bluntly, it is because of our values as New Yorkers, because of our success as a pluralistic city. Terrorists regard New York as the exact kind of place they want to disrupt, and New Yorkers respond consistently with strength and resiliency. We saw it after the two attacks in the fall – people in this city handled it with great strength and in a very adorable way. As did the NYPD, and the NYPD proved once again its ability to handle and respond to any situation. We are clear that those characteristics – that strength, that resiliency, that unwillingness to ever bend in the face of threats – marks the character of New Yorkers and is something the City should be proud of as well, and that will again be on display. We are ready to have a great celebration.
And I want to emphasize what you heard from the Commissioner – there are no credible and specific threats against New York City at this point in time, and no credible and specific threats against the New Year’s Eve celebrations. But we are still vigilant at all times. We are very proud of the fact that the NYPD this year proved its ability to achieve even greater results. We’re proud of being the safest big city in America. We’re proud of the fact that we’re getting even safer. This NYPD has managed to achieve that while facing an ever more complex terrorist threat. They’ve done both with tremendous ability and professionalism. We know there’s more work to be done, but we take heart from the fact that just in the last few months we had a very successful New York City Marathon, we had a very successful Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. These big events came off without a hitch because of exceptional planning and because of the use of exceptional resources to secure them, and that’s the exact model we’ll use again on New Year’s Eve.
We have put the patrol officers out in numbers we need for this situation. We’ve made very clear in the last few years that we will continue to use the number necessary to secure each situation, and, again, the vital cooperation with our federal partners has been crucial to ensuring that we’re ready in all ways. That being said, and the Commissioner said it so powerfully after the last incident, the NYPD is the best police force in the world, we have tremendous cooperation with our partners, but we must have the help of the people of this city to do everything we need to do. So, that phrase – if you see something, say something – that means something. You have to feel that phrase. Any one New Yorker can save countless lives by being vigilant and reporting information to the police. So, please, I want to urge everyone – help each other be safe. If you see something, make sure a police officer knows about it.
Chief of Department Terence Monahan, NYPD: Planning for this event began January 1st. It’s been constantly adjusted and updated as events occurred in the city, in this country, and around the world. It’s been a tremendous effort on the part of Chief Billy Morris and Chief Jimmy Waters from Counter-terrorism and all their personnel assigned to Manhattan South and the Counter-terrorism Bureau to put together this plan to make sure that everyone that comes to Times Square that day can come and be ensured that they will be safe.
So, as we move forward – 11 am, crosstown traffic will be shut from 37th Street to 59th Street, 6th to 8th Avenue. At that time, we’ll begin to seal off the entire bowtie area with concrete, a block of cars, and sand-trucks. Within that area, there are 125 parking garages. Each and every one of those parking garages will be closed and seals – cars will not be allowed to come in or to come out. There will be a truck restriction in place on 6th and 8th Avenues, starting at 11 am from 34th Street to 59th Street – no trucks will be allowed within that area.
Once we’re into the zone, there are 12 access points for spectators to come in. Each one of those access points will have vapor wake dogs assigned there, and there will be heavy-weapon teams. Spectators will be walking through a checkpoint area where they will be checked. Bags will be checked and screened, there will be no large bags, no coolers, no umbrellas into the area. You’ll go through a magnetometer, so we’ll make sure there are no weapons. Once you go there and you process to the pens, you will again be screened a second time before you’re allowed to enter the pens. There will be heavy-weapon teams and dogs assigned throughout the entire viewing area. In addition, we will have our Emergency Service Unit working hand in hand with the FBI and Secret Service, and we will have observation teams with counter-sniper capabilities assigned throughout the entire viewing area. In addition, every hotel within the Times Square area will have uniformed officers assigned to those hotels, working hand in hand with the hotel securities. Our transit hubs – transit will be fully staffed that day. We will be conducting train inspections and bag screenings at locations throughout the city, not just in the Times Square area. Transit will also have dogs working throughout the transit system. Our aviation unit will have a ship up the entire night and it’ll be covering the entire Manhattan area. There will be at least one ship up at all times.
In addition to the Times Square area, we have major details going on in Coney Island, and we have the Central Park Run. We will have heavy-weapon teams out in those locations and we will also have sand-trucks and blocker vehicles. There are numbers other events taking place throughout the City and we will also have coverage at them. Every precinct, housing, and transit facility throughout the City will be fully covered, and the commanding officers of each and every one of those units will be working that evening. Our highway units will be fully staffed, working the highways to deter any drunk driving. So, the message out there is, be responsible. Don’t get behind the wheel of a car after you’ve been drinking. This is a shared responsibility. Whether it’s in the Times Square area, or anywhere else around the City – as it’s been said before – if you see something, say something. There are going to be cops out throughout the City, in Times Square and everywhere else in the City. Do not hesitate to go up to a cop if there’s something that makes you feel uncomfortable, and let us investigate it. That’s what we’re here for.
With all of this done, I can really say that this should be a very safe and happy new year for everyone.
Chief of Counterterrorism James Waters, NYPD: As the Mayor and Police Commissioner have already said, there’s no specific or credible threats to the New Year’s Eve event. We are aware of the propaganda that has been disseminated by ISIS and its affiliates. We follow the attacks that occur around the world, our analysts are at work each and every day looking at those attacks and analyzing them. They inform our training and our deployments. We are conducting executive meetings today with personnel that will be assigned to the detail. So, all the executives, captains, and above are downstairs in a training informational session right now with people from Operations, Manhattan South, and Counter-terrorism and Intelligence Bureaus.
In addition to that, as a result of the events of December 11th, we have prepared a tactical bulletin – a response to suicide bombers that will be disseminated to the police officers starting tomorrow in preparation of Sunday’s events. These will be some instructions and some level of training. We also prepared a training video that they’ll be able to see. And with the latest of technology, they’ll be able to review both the tactical bulletin as well as the video on their Department phones. You will see an increase in heavy weapons, bomb-squad personnel, radiological detection teams, and our technology to include over 1,000 cameras in an around the area of Times Square for the event.
So, very briefly, I’ll take you through a quick visual of what one would see if they were to come to the event. On Sunday night, as they access one of the access-block points – they will first walk past the Sanitation sand-trucks and NYPD blocker vehicles that will be positioned at the intersection of 6th of 8th Avenue, as well as they will see some NYPD cement block out there. They’ll walk past a vapor wake dog, which works off of the air displacement off one’s body. And so, those dogs will be deployed at all those access points. They will go through a magnetometer, or they’ll be wanded for weapons, and, at some point, they will come to a table where they will have their bags inspected. In some cases, we will randomly take those bags and swipe the handles with explosive detection equipment, followed up and supported by the Critical Response Command or the Strategic Response Group heavy weapons teams at all locations. They will then proceed onto the pens, where this process will be repeated a second time as they enter the pens. They will again be wanded. They will walk past another dog. There’s radiological detection equipment on all of the officer’s gun belts. And then they will proceed into the pens, all with an overwatch from not only the observation teams of emergency service, but the Critical Response Command and the Strategic Response Group long gun teams.
