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Bomb-sniffing dogs? Check. Times Square crowd? Not this year

New York City police turned to familiar tactics ahead of Thursday's New Year's Eve celebrations, deploying bomb-sniffing dogs and sand-filled sanitation trucks intended to guard against explosions. But the department's playbook this year includes an unusual mandate: preventing crowds of any size from gathering in Times Square.

Citing concerns over the spread of COVID-19, police closed the Crossroads of the World to vehicles and pedestrians at midnight and said they would disperse any onlookers venturing into a so-called “frozen zone' — the blocks surrounding the ball that historically draw shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.

The coronavirus has upended public life for months, and New Year's Eve will be no different. This year, police said, revelers headed to Times Square won't be permitted past police lines. (AP)