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In this Jan. 1, 2018, file photo, confetti flies over Times Square during the New Year's celebration in New York. The New York Police Department is adding a drone this year to its security forces. (Seth Wenig\/AP) December 31 at 4:49 PM <\/p>\n
In this Jan. 1, 2018, file photo, confetti flies over Times Square during the New Year's celebration in New York. The New York Police Department is adding a drone this year to its security forces. (Seth Wenig\/AP) December 31 at 4:49 PM <\/p>\n
Update: After this story published, NYPD officials announced that the department will not use drones during the city\u2019s New Year\u2019s Eve celebration due to inclement weather. <\/p>\n
Before they pack into Times Square on Monday night, thousands of New Year\u2019s Eve revelers will pass through the kind of intensive security measures that are normally found inside the nation\u2019s airports.<\/p>\n
While the crowd will probably be keenly aware of the heavy police presence, bomb-sniffing dogs and metal-sensing hand wands, there is one critical security measure that may escape their notice.<\/p>\n
This year \u2014 for the first time in the New York Police Department\u2019s history \u2014 officials will have a camera-equipped, remote-controlled quadcopter on hand with the ability to buzz above the exuberant crowd.<\/p>\n
The drone\u2019s camera will be one of more than 1,200 fixed cameras being used by police at the celebration, according to NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d show<\/a>. Compared with helicopters, NYPD officials said, the agency\u2019s drones have the ability to get much closer to the crowd.<\/p>\n Some of the department\u2019s drones have been outfitted with powerful cameras with thermal-imaging and 3D-mapping technology, as well as "strong camera lenses that can greatly magnify a subject,\u201d according to the Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s going to give us a visual aid and the flexibility of being able to move a camera to a certain spot with great rapidity through a tremendous crowd,\u201d Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller told the AP.<\/p>\n [This startup\u2019s new passenger drone is \u2018like a flight simulator that you can ride in,' CEO says<\/a>]<\/p>\n In addition to flying its own drone above Times Square, the department will also be deploying counter-drone technology to keep other drones from flying into the area, according to Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n Just because the NYPD\u2019s drones are capable of swooping across the Monday night\u2019s crowd does not mean they necessarily will do so. Chief of Department Terence Monahan told the AP the department\u2019s drone will be relegated to \u201ccordoned-off area\u201d and \u201ctethered to a building\u201d to avoid injury if the vehicle falls from the sky.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce it\u2019s up in the air, it will probably be hard to see,\u201d Monahan told the AP.<\/p>\n