NYPD full brass posted in Times Square, ready for New Year’s Eve

TIMES SQUARE, Manhattan (PIX11) -- The world’s largest party is set to begin on Sunday night. 

In the meantime, though, Mayor Eric Adams and top NYPD brass are ensuring the 1 million people who plan on being at the Times Square ball drop to welcome the new year will be safe in an expanded security zone.  

“We will be out here,” the mayor said at a security briefing in front of the Times Square NYPD precinct on Friday afternoon. “With our canines, our horsebacks, our drones, our helicopters, the full complement of our public safety apparatus.”  

In addition, said Jeffrey Maddrey, the NYPD chief of department, there will be hundreds of undercover and plainclothes officers present at the ball drop.  

In Times Square on Friday, hundreds of people were on hand for a practice confetti drop. Some of them talked about security for New Year's Eve. 

Cassandra Curbelo, who lives in the city, said that while she has confidence in police safety efforts, "It's always a little bit of a concern. I mean, it is New York," she said.  

Other people also expressed a touch of cynicism despite feeling safe overall.  

Julie Marshall was visiting from the city of Somerset, England.  

"You can't account for what people are going to do all the time," she said. "People try to find ways around security."  

This year's festivities come a year after a machete attack on three officers just outside the New Year's Eve security perimeter.  

The festivities also follow protests at public gatherings, including during the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and near the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, on Christmas. In both cases, the protests were against the war in Gaza.  

With protests in mind, said Chief Chell, the NYPD expanded the security zone around Times Square for this year's ball drop. It is a rectangular zone that runs from 41st Street to 57th Street, between 6th Avenue and 8th Avenue.  

"That gives us a buffer zone, so we can move quickly," the chief said, "and gives us a space for protesters not to come in here." 

Mayor Adams said that there is no known credible threat to the event, but that the NYPD's intelligence division is monitoring chatter on the web and is prepared for protests.