# Anybody else worried that Times Square is not a safe place to be tonight? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225 "2006-12-31T17:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/1 "2006-12-31T17:20:11Z")
Record crowds are expected in New York City tonight according to this article: [HeadlineAlley](http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061231/D8MBQJ5G0.html) Am the only one worried that Times Square is not the most prudent place to congregate the day after a Muslim leader was hanged? New York Dopers, please be safe. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/2 "2006-12-31T18:32:59Z")
Piffle. Saddam’s Baath buddies are trying to organize a revolution in their own country, or eliminating Baath Party rivals in preparation for same. Bin Ladin’s people _couldn’t care less_ about Saddam. Hamas & the PLO are by & large local affairs. Who is gonna do it? ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/3 "2006-12-31T20:29:26Z")
My thoughts are if you change your behaviors because of what terrorists might do, you have let the terrorists win. I don’t think an attack on Times Square is very likely, and I won’t be there anyway, but I think it is wrong for people who do that type of thing to change their plans. Sgt Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/4 "2006-12-31T20:36:07Z")
I’d be more worried about drunken idiots than terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/5 "2006-12-31T20:53:10Z")
And pickpockets. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/6 "2006-12-31T21:21:15Z")
Yeah, I think thieves, or perhaps some kind of panic situation, is more of a danger in a crowd like that. I’ve never been in T/S on New Year’s Eve and the idea doesn’t appeal to me at all. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/7 "2006-12-31T21:32:20Z")
It’s **remotely** possible something might happen there, but I happen to believe any **successful** major incident will be performed by terrorists with some amount of intelligence; idiots are not going to be successful at something like that (“idiot” refers to the hypothetical terrorist, not the OP 🙂 ). That said, given the paranoia south of the border these days, why pick a target that’s going to be watched like a hawk by the military, police, homeland security, etc. etc. etc. when there are so many other times, places, and methods for causing mass chaos? It’s analogous to my strong belief that the safest time to fly is just after there has been a security incident because security is at its most paranoid. If a few people get shot by a crazed terrorist, how is that any different than getting shot by the typical run-of-the-mill crooks and crazies that seem to infest New York? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/8 "2006-12-31T21:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=Sonia Montdore] Am the only one worried that Times Square is not the most prudent place to congregate the day after a Muslim leader was hanged?[//QUOTE] No, because people worry about terrorism there every year, but it’s unlikely. Saddam was pretty much irrelevant in Iraq by the time he died, and the Iraqis for the most part want to kill each other or get the US out of Iraq. So it’s very unlikely they would attack New York. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/9 "2006-12-31T21:51:08Z")
[QUOTE=Sonia Montdore] New York Dopers, please be safe. [/QUOTE] Don’t worry, there will be no New Yorkers in Times Square tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/10 "2007-01-01T03:16:08Z")
Saddam aside, Times Square on New Year’s Eve makes one juicy target for fanatics looking for martyrdom. I assume the NYPD will be on the lookout for semetic-looking young men not having a very good time and wearing bulier-than-usual winter coats. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/11 "2007-01-01T03:17:11Z")
:smack: Make that “bulkier-than-usual” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/12 "2007-01-01T13:06:41Z")
And…nothing happened. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-worried-that-times-square-is-not-a-safe-place-to-be-tonight/386225/13 "2007-01-01T13:21:36Z")
As mentioned in passing earlier, the Thread-title question has been raised every year since 2001 and security measures have been taken in kind. But thinking a little bit more about the OP, the proximity to Saddam’s execution would really not be such a major factor: any large-scale attack on a major city’s New Year’s Eve crowds would have had to be planned **months** in advance and have already had the players in motion earlier in the week.