NYPD prepares for New Year’s Eve party

December 30, 2008 03:37 AM

By Rocco Parascandola
Newsday

NEW YORK — A phalanx of rookie cops - one day out of the Police Academy - will be out in force on New Year’s Eve as police keep watch on the festivities in Times Square. And keeping watch over them - and just about everyone else - will be Sky Watch, the retractable NYPD tower that allows police to spot problems from blocks away.

For most of the 1,129 rookie cops who graduate today the assignment is a rite of passage. New officers are typically assigned to help New Yorkers ring in the New Year.

Their role is fairly routine - keeping revelers behind police lines and making sure no one is drinking alcohol. And while they have been trained with M4 automatic machine guns, they won’t be using the weapons, or even carrying them that night, police say.

After the terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, the New York Police Department spotted a chink in its armor.

According to Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD’s top spokesman, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and other members of his inner circle convened to discuss what happened in Mumbai and realized that a prolonged incident would tax the 400-member Emergency Service Unit, whose officers are best trained in high-powered weaponry.

Rookies in the academy underwent three days of training, but police sources said they would only use such weapons as a last resort.

Instead, in the event of an attack, ESU officers would be backed up by about 2,000 officers who work in the Organized Crime Control Bureau, including narcotics and vice officers, and who are being trained to use the M4.

Thus far, police said there is no credible evidence suggesting the city has been targeted for New Year’s Eve, but the department will, as usual, have what it calls a “counterterrorism overlay” in place.

“There will be countersnipers, we’ll be checking for radiologic weapons and there are also biological sensors that will be deployed,” Browne said.

Revelers will have to pass through a number of checkpoints, and will be turned away if they have backpacks or large bags. Those there for the festivities can leave their spot behind police lines at any time, but will have to re-enter through a checkpoint if they return, and would likely wind up blocks away from their original spot.

Police sources said there will also be bomb-sniffing dogs walking through the crowds, helicopters hovering overhead and snipers perched atop buildings throughout Times Square.

Sources also said garbage cans will be removed from street corners to eliminate a place where someone could hide explosives. Mailboxes may also be removed, sources said, and a number of manhole covers are expected to be sealed shut as a security precaution.