Tightest security ever for year-end revels in New York

NEW YORK - Police are promising a bigger security detail than ever before in Times Square for this year's New Year's Eve celebration, which will mark the end of a year that saw a number of deadly attacks on innocent crowds, including a vehicle rampage at the very spot where revelers will ring in 2018.

In addition to its usual army of snipers, bag-inspecting officers and metal detectors, the department this year is relying on help from a growing corps of "vapor wake" dogs, which are trained to sniff out trace amounts of explosive particles that trail behind someone carrying a bomb.

All 125 parking garages in the vicinity of the square will be emptied in advance of the celebration and sealed off, so no one has a chance to sneak in a car bomb, police said.