Throngs pack Times Square for New Year's bash
NEW YORK -- Dense crowds of revelers packed Times Square in the hours before the midnight ball drop, resolving to celebrate New Year's Eve with gusto and optimism, despite a year filled with headlines of extremist attacks and a heavy security presence in New York City.
Partygoers hailing from around the world began arriving at the famed Manhattan crossroads before dawn, awaiting an evening of pop star performances that culminated with a countdown and the descent of an 11,875-pound Waterford crystal ball to welcome the New Year to the nation's largest city.
An estimated one million people were expected at the celebration, protected by an armada of 6,000 police officers -- some in civilian clothes, many heavily armed -- as well as rigid security screenings.
Officers from the New York Police Department's elite emergency services unit surveyed the scene from Times Square rooftops, peering below through binoculars and scopes as snipers stood beside them. Heavily armed officers carrying tactical rifles stood on nearly every corner for blocks as police helicopters buzzed overhead after checking in on other parts of the city, including the World Trade Center and Statue of Liberty.
"This is the iconic New Year's celebration for the world," New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton said. "We have no threats we're aware of directed against this event tonight but nevertheless we still plan for the worst and then expect the best."
Some in the crowd admitted to being nervous to gather in such a famous location in the weeks after the Paris and San Bernardino attacks. Just hours earlier Thursday, an ex-con was charged in upstate New York with planning to carry out a New Year's Eve attack at a bar to prove he was worthy of joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group.
Ashley Watters, 18, a freshman at Temple University hailing from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, called the threat of terrorism "the elephant in the room."
"I talked to my dad before I left and said 'I love you and hopefully ISIS doesn't come,'" said Watters. "My dad said, 'Keep your eyes out.' He feels the same way, you can't live in fear. I'm not going to miss out on an opportunity."
Others were heartened by the massive security presence, which led Mayor Bill de Blasio -- who pushed the button to send the ball on its minute-long descent at 11:59 p.m. -- and his police team to declare the city "the safest place in the world" on New Year's Eve.
In addition to the swarms of police on the ground, officers kept watch over the crowd via security cameras, beaming images into a command center at police headquarters. Tactical officers spied from rooftops and a hovering helicopter. Other officers searched bags, at random, in subway stations.
The NYPD established a 500 person Special Response Unit this year which holds regular drills. At a new operations center in Downtown Manhattan, officers monitor thousands of camera feeds. Thursday night, it was staffed with members of governmental and private agencies.
"After the Paris incident we were really concerned, but we were sure that the security here would be absolutely top top," said Ann Alderton, 63, of Durban, South Africa. She was celebrating her 39th wedding anniversary with her husband, Rob. "I haven't felt alarmed or afraid."
Daniel Mishaan, 19, of Guatemala City, Guatemala, said that while the security precautions, which keep partygoers penned in barricaded corrals all night, are a "pain in the neck," being in Times Square at midnight was still a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Police officials have acknowledged that there were limits to what they could do to ensure security, especially outside the tightly controlled blocks at the heart of the celebration.
The party to send off 2015 featured musical acts -- including Demi Lovato and Carrie Underwood -- fireworks, confetti and temperatures that, to the relief of the bundled-up spectators, were expected to stay well above freezing.