NYPD to beef up security for Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony

NYPD counterterrorism cops will have their eyes pointed toward the sky during Wednesday night’s Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, as they search for drones that might constitute a security threat.

While officials said during a media briefing Tuesday that there is no known threat directed at the annual event, police will be using recently-developed technology to monitor the airspace around Rockefeller Plaza just in case.

“We will deploy technology that will identify whether or not a drone is motorized and in the air and will take appropriate steps to find the operator as well as bring that [drone] down safely,” NYPD Counterterrorism Chief James Waters said.

Waters didn’t get into specifics but he indicated the NYPD has used the technology in the past, both as a way of detecting drones and intercepting them.

According to the Center for the Study of the Drone at upstate Bard College, a counter-drone industry has developed in which there are over 230 products to detect, jam and intercept drones. The growth in the industry is directly related to the use by terrorists group of drones in Syria and Iraq, the center stated.

This year’s tree lighting is the first time that the NYPD has said it will monitor drone activity in connection with the big Christmas holiday event, a police spokesman said. Cops took similar action during the Thanksgiving Day parade.

With 20,000 visitors expected to cram into the plaza for the tree lighting ceremony, which will begin at 8 p.m., the NYPD will have a full array of security measures in place. Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said that in addition to counterterrorism cops, rooftop officers with long guns as well as K-9 and mounted officers will be deployed.

Officials are asking the public to use mass transit to get to the event. The tree, a 72-foot-tall Norway spruce, will be on display until Jan. 7.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.