TRAVERSE CITY -- Downtown Traverse City will be full of excitement during the New Years Eve bash, and police are more than prepared for it.
The Traverse City Police Department will have 20 officers on duty with the help of volunteers and deputies from the Grand Traverse Sheriff's office.
Police tell 7 & 4 News that the biggest issue they expect to face tonight are parking and traffic problems.
"We at the police office encourage everyone if they're going to the event to car pool to the biggest extent that they can," said Captain Brian Heffner, of the Traverse Police Dept. Park a ways away from the event. Usually the larger problem we have is people trying to leave the event as it's happened. And anytime you get upwards of 10 or 15 thousand people in a 4 city block area you can imagine it's very difficult to disperse those crowds."
Foot traffic was an issue for the police department last year. A movie at the State Theatre let out as the ball was dropping, causing, crowd backups.
Officials say that this year they have worked with event organizers and the theatre staff to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
