NYC to ring in new year with heightened security in Times Square
NEW YORK - Thousands of New York City police officers prepared for protests in Times Square against excessive police force as an enormous crowd of revelers gathered there under unusually tight security for the nation's biggest New Year's Eve celebrations.
In the hours before the giant crystal ball drops at midnight, bomb-sniffing dogs and counterterrorism units joined uniformed officers posted on the streets around the famed Manhattan crossroads. Other officers were stationed on rooftops and at area subway stations.
Security is always tight in Times Square on New Year's Eve, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. But this year, extra precautions were in being taken after months of protests over the deaths of two unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers in New York and Ferguson, Missouri.
