NYPD reassures New Yorkers of their safety during holiday season

The NYPD is well-prepared to protect New Yorkers at the Christmas tree-lighting ceremony Wednesday at Rockefeller Center and at other events where large crowds will gather this holiday season, a top police official said Sunday.

John Miller, deputy police commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said the department has added 525 specialized officers to its counterterrorism force, making for a total of 1,500 cops "trained, prepared, briefed" to prevent and respond to violence such as the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris.

"Leave the worrying and the planning to us," Miller said in a 970AM radio interview with John Catsimatidis, host of "The Cat's Roundtable." "We'll be in the background, and people should feel safe because we're there."

Miller, Police Commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio have sought to reassure residents and visitors of their safety since the deadly attacks on so-called soft targets in Paris. "We will be at a state of heightened alert through the holidays," Miller said, adding that the tragic events in Paris "validated our strategy" of having a dedicated Critical Response Command team "geared to go up against just that kind of attacker."

The NYPD's coverage and protection of millions of spectators and participants at last week's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the city's first major event since the Paris attacks, "was flawless," he said. "We want to be watchful, we want to be careful," he said, urging New Yorkers to remain vigilant but not at the expense of everyday routines. "What we don't want to do is make the conversations around the holidays about fear and not the holidays."