Thanksgiving Parade Security Will Be Strongest Ever: Officials

NEW YORK, NY — The giant balloons in Thursday's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be guarded by lots and lots of cops, officials said Monday. The NYPD's presence at the 91st annual event will be "stronger than ever," Mayor Bill de Blasio said, with additional efforts to protect the 2.5-mile route after last month's terror attack in Tribeca.

The NYPD is boosting the total number of cops watching the parade, which will run from 77th Street to the Macy's flagship store at 34th Street, officials said. That includes the NYPD's heavily armed counterterrorism and critical response command officers.

The Police Department will also deploy more large vehicles such as sand trucks on side streets to protect the route from cars, NYPD Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan said. Crosstown traffic will be blocked off between 86th and 34th streets starting at 7 a.m. Thursday, Monahan said.

"Come out, enjoy the day, but once you’re out there if you see anything, anything suspicious there will be a cop on every block, go to that cop, say something," Monahan said at a news conference Monday.

Security around the parade, which is expected to draw more than a million spectators, is always tight. But officials said the NYPD worked with Macy's to make some tweaks this year and will be especially vigilant after the Oct. 31 terror attack on the Hudson River Greenway, which killed eight people and injured 12.

The NYPD will be doing security screenings and bag checks for the 200,000 people expected to watch the parade's signature giant balloons get inflated on the Upper West Side on Wednesday, Monahan said.

Those lining up along the parade route won't be screened, but anyone with a special seat on the grandstands will be checked, Monahan said.

A cop will be assigned to each of the more than 30 giant balloons in the parade, Monahan said. That officer will check wind levels and have the balloons adjusted to make sure nothing goes awry.

The NYPD will also deploy cops on horseback, K9 patrols, snipers on rooftops and helicopters watching the route from above, Monahan said.

The extra security won't keep avid parade-watchers from staking out their spots early in the morning, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said.

"We are there at 5 o’clock and there people lining up already," O'Neill said Monday. "I don’t know how they do it but they do it but they do it."

The parade starts at 9 a.m. Thursday. If you're planning to see it in person, check out Patch's guide on how to watch.

(Lead image: NYPD officers guard the 2016 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)