YORK, Pa. — The count down to New Year's is on, as thousands of people plan to celebrate 2024 across central Pennsylvania.
Nearly a dozen communities in our area have planned New Year’s Eve Celebrations and Drops scheduled on Sunday. Meanwhile, local police departments are prepared to ramp up security measures for those events.
In Derry Township, extra police officers and security cameras will be used to help monitor Hershey’s annual Kiss Drop. Police Chief Garth Warner said they are using guidelines from the FBI and State Police to structure their security plans.
“There are intelligence centers feeding us information on what security measures we should be concentrating on [and] what some of the security concerns are at the time," said Chief Warner. "We're relying on their information centers to sort of gear what we do."
In Mechanicsburg, Police Chief Margaret Myers said several officers will work overtime in order to increase the security presence at the town’s annual New Year’s Wrench Drop.
“We won’t outnumber the people by any means, but there should be a lot of us in that area," said Chief Myers.
Officers say they are also encouraging people to keep an eye on their surroundings, in order to allow others to safely ring in the New Year.
“If they see something that is suspicious to them, they need to say something," said Chief Warner.
“If people are aware of their surroundings, they are helping us more than they could know," said Chief Myers.