An estimated million people, monitored by a high-tech police force, crammed into New York's Times Square to watch the traditional ball drop at the start of 2011. The party was one of the biggest in the world marking the start of 2011, and centred around the slow fall of a six ton, glittering ball comprising 32,256 LED lights and 2,688 Waterford crystals.
Municipal clean up crews had only just had enough time to move out piles of snow left over from a blizzard that struck the city on Monday, but conditions were exceptionally mild for the big night. Temperatures certainly shot up at midnight when mass kissing started with a little help from Nivea, a sponsor, which donated 30,000 samples of lip balm. And in the ultimate display of public affection, two Marine Corps reservists exchanged vows after winning the Get Married in Times Square competition.
New York police turned out in force for the event, with a special focus on preventing terrorist attacks. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that although there are "no specific threats against the city on New Year's Eve, any time large numbers of people come together, we put in our counterterrorism overlay."
Uniformed police were backed by a heavy undercover presence, as well as helicopters and sharpshooters on surrounding buildings. Police were equipped with radiation detection devices, both at checkpoints for entering Times Square and in among the crowds. "We have several thousand radiation detectors that are deployed with our officers," Kelly told a pre-celebration news conference. "We have large radiation detection equipment that we deploy on vehicles. We actually have it on all our harbour launches in the water, so we're certainly very sensitive to that issue."
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