Large crowd, police presence gather for New Year's Eve fireworks along San Francisco waterfront
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A large crowd gathered along the waterfront in San Francisco as midnight grew closer, and to go along with the big crowds was a larger than usual police presence.
Thousands of people came from all over the Bay Area and beyond to ring in the new year.
"I have big expectations. I've heard about the fireworks and I think it's going to be great," said Arzu Dominic, a tourist from Mexico.
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Fireworks were set to launch at the stroke of midnight from a barge at Pier 14.
Every available officer, in uniform and undercover, is working, even more so than in year's past. With the foiled ISIS inspired Christmas Day attack on Pier 39 fresh on everyone's mind, SFPD isn't taking any chances.
"As far as we know there have been no threats to San Francisco at this time," said Officer Grace Gatpandan of the San Francisco Police Department. "We always work around the clock on developing information and keep in touch with our federal and state law enforcement partners to ensure that the city is safe."
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For the first time, New Year's Eve revelers could sign up for emergency text alerts. Signs were set up along the waterfront with instructions on how to opt in. The notifications were set up to be sent from the San Francisco Emergency Operations Center, where it was all hands on deck Sunday night.
"This gives them a chance to get connected to us, we can send emergency alerts for anything that might be going on. It could be police activity, fire activity, or even a major traffic disruption," said Francis Zamora, Dept. of Emergency Management.
People we talked with say these added measures are helping put their minds at ease.
"It's pretty much organized and I see all the police so I think it's pretty much managed," said Amreen Iqbal, Sunnyvale Resident.
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