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No holiday for NYPD

1,500 rookie officers are deploying to Times Square.

NEW YORK - Less than two weeks after graduating from the New York police academy, more than 1,500 rookie officers have a daunting first assignment: helping to protect Times Square on New Year's Eve.

The deployment is just one of an array of security measures - many visible, many not - that the New York Police Department rolls out each year for the event that turns the "Crossroads of the World" into a massive street party that stretches 17 blocks through the heart of Manhattan.

Behind the scenes leading up to New Year's Eve, city police officials meticulously map out how to control crowds that can swell to one million. The yearly ritual also means worrying about potential terror threats.

"There will be several thousand police officers involved," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday when asked about security. "I think we do this pretty well. We have a lot of experience in doing it."

Kelly said so far there are no specific threats against Times Square. But in the post-9/11 world, the department knows from experience - especially an attempted car bombing in the summer of 2010 - that Times Square is a potential terror target.

Since then, the NYPD has maintained a higher profile in Times Square, with mounted police and foot patrols outside hotels, restaurants, and Broadway theaters. The department even elevated its neon "New York Police Dept." sign on West 43d Street several feet so it's more visible.

The usual security is bolstered each New Year's Eve by an army of extra patrol officers who use police barriers to prevent overcrowding and for checkpoints to inspect vehicles, enforce a ban on alcohol, and check handbags. Revelers will see bomb-sniffing dogs, heavily armed counterterrorism teams, and NYPD helicopters overhead.

What will not be as evident are the plainclothes officers assigned to blend into the crowd and other officers keeping watch from rooftops. Many officers will be wearing palm-size radiation detectors designed to give off a signal if they detect evidence of a dirty bomb, an explosive intended to spread panic by creating a radioactive cloud.

The bomb squad and another unit specializing in chemical and biological threats will sweep hotels, theaters, construction sites, and parking garages. They will also patrol the sprawling Times Square subway station.

The NYPD also will rely on a new network of about 3,000 closed-circuit security cameras carpeting the roughly 1.7 square miles south of Canal Street, the subway system, and parts of midtown Manhattan.