LV officers know the drill
When it comes to New Year's Eve, Las Vegas police have it down to a science.
Metropolitan Police Department planners have tweaked some elements for the massive celebration, which is expected to draw more than 300,000 revelers. But partiers who have been on the Strip for prior New Year's festivities probably won't notice anything different about security arrangements along Las Vegas Boulevard.
As in previous years, most of the Police Department's 2,300 officers will be stationed at the Fremont Street Experience and on the Strip. The Strip will be closed to vehicle traffic and will become a maze of metal barricades as the crowds swell into the night.
"This is a huge undertaking," Deputy Chief Gary Schofield said, standing before a series of aerial maps showing the Strip and the planned deployments of police and other emergency workers.
Schofield said there are no known, specific terrorist threats involving Las Vegas, but police will have their usual New Year's Eve partners, including the National Guard and the FBI.
As they have been for prior New Year's Eves, guardsmen will be stationed at McCarran International Airport and at drainage tunnels that run under the Strip, among other locations, said Capt. April Conway, a National Guard spokeswoman.
They will also have five helicopters for a variety of needs, including medical airlifts and aerial observation, she said.
The plans haven't changed much since last year, when the New Year came and went without much trouble. Police made about 100 arrests, which is the norm, they said.
Schofield reminded partiers that no bottles or cans are allowed on the Strip, and the curfew for unaccompanied minors runs from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. He also reminded revelers to dress warmly and to not bring small children into the mass of humanity that will take over the streets.
This year's celebration comes complete with a new fireworks show. The show is called "The Best is Yet to Come" and will feature big band music as the pyrotechnics blast from seven hotel rooftops.
Las Vegas police began planning for this year's party almost as soon as the calendar turned to 2007.
Officer Pete Bonasera, a 20-year Marine Corps veteran, has put together the police plan each year since 2000. That year he put everything into a 2-inch binder. He now needs a 5-inch binder to contain the hundreds of pages in the plan for the second-largest New Year's Eve celebration in the country.
"We do the same thing that New York does with a lot less manpower," Bonasera said.
Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0281.
