'We're all hands on deck': APD prepares for New Year's Eve crowds

ATLANTA — Authorities expect as many as 100,000 people to gather for this year's Peach Drop, which will take place at a new location, and police are getting ready.

Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Aaron Diamant spoke to Atlanta Police Department Assistant Chief Rodney Bryant about security plans.

“We’re all hands on deck,” Bryant said.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Founder of police watchdog group arrested for impersonating officer
• Grandmother found in car's trunk likely 'lured' to her death
• Bold thieves swipe laptops at Starbucks, police say

Bryant confirmed security plans for Sunday night’s event are in full swing. He said right now the department's intelligence is not giving them anything that they need to be overly concerned about.

Still, with the annual New Year’s Eve celebration moving from Underground Atlanta to Woodruff Park, APD and its federal partners aren’t taking any chances.

“When we see something happening anywhere throughout the world, our first thing to do with the team is to come together and come up with strategies to prevent those types of events,” Bryant said.

The details stay mostly secret, but we know the department’s joint operations center will be open. And as far as what the public will see, Bryant said the following:

“Other than just regular visibility and increase in visibility they should not see or feel any different than when it was at Underground.”

From News Drone 2, we captured the park’s confined space. Police said access will be strictly controlled with barricades and four specific entrances. Everyone who wants in will be subject to search.

“It’s definitely going to be a tight squeeze," said Woodruff Park Manager Ansley Whipple. “We’re just trying to prepare everything and move the furniture around and just make space for a lot of people to be here.”

Cox Media Group