More cops will be flooding Times Square for 2026 New Year's Eve celebration

Roni Jacobson and Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News on Dec 30, 2025

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NEW YORK — More cops will be patrolling the Crossroads of the World during Wednesday’s New Year’s Eve celebration as the NYPD starts to employ a secondary screening process for revelers already inside the viewing pens waiting for the ball to drop, police said Tuesday.

Speaking at Times Square with Mayor Eric Adams, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the policing for Wednesday’s New Year’s Eve celebration will be “bigger” than last year’s, featuring more cops, both in uniform and in plainclothes, covering the celebration.

Currently, the NYPD’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism bureaus have found “no credible threats” against Times Square or the celebration, but additional officers will be brought in to conduct a “secondary screening of people inside the viewing pens” if necessary.

“We will have mobile screening teams walking around the pens if we see anything that looks suspicious,” Tisch said. “We will have teams in place to do appropriate screening.”

Additional cops will also be at the entrances to Times Square, so that people entering the viewing pens can be screened for alcohol and other prohibited items more smoothly, said Tisch, who would not divulge how many cops will be in place as more than 1 million people stand by to ring in 2026.

“We never tell you the exact numbers. But rest assured, the entirety of the New York City Police Department is going to be working between December 31 and January 1,” Tisch said. “This is the biggest security event of the year.”

Mayor Adams said that every aspect of the NYPD will be utilized to protect Times Square, including Transit cops, Mounted and Harbor units, drone operators and canine teams.

“While we do not have any specific or credible threats regarding the New Year’s Eve festivities in Times Square, we are continually operating in a heightened threat,” Adams said, adding that some protests are also expected.

“While we acknowledge that the city will respect and protect people’s right to protest,” he said, “…we will have zero tolerance for interfering with the celebration tomorrow.”

The NYPD will also deploy “dedicated pickpocket teams, hotel response teams and additional uniform controls to address quality of life and public safety concerns,” Tisch added.

“Intelligence teams will also be monitoring social media for potential threats,” she added.

Mayor Adams will be attending the celebration with the knowledge that four years earlier he was sworn in as mayor at the 2022 New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square.

He said he’ll be working as mayor up until the last minute of his term, which will end at Times Square.

After that, he joked, “I’m looking forward to a single malt Scotch and a cigar.”