Knicks parade details: Police presence and street, subway closures outlined for lower Manhattan

Thursday's NBA champion Knicks parade will be policed by over 10,000 officers, the biggest deployment in NYPD history for a planned event, Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

That's nearly one-third of the entire 36,000-officer department and thousands more officers than work for every Long Island police force combined. More NYPD officers will be on parade-related duty than make up any other local police force in America but one — Chicago has 11,000 cops — and even then, just barely. 

Public attendance is expected to be "in the millions," Tisch said. The pens and bleachers set up along the parade route — fewer than 20 blocks: the Battery, turning onto Broadway, onward to City Hall — are expected to be insufficient to hold everyone who wants to attend, she said. 

"Once designated viewing areas reach capacity," she said, "people will be redirected or turned away."

The NYPD will deploy heavy weapons, K9s, bomb detectors, helicopters, horses, drones, "hostile-surveillance teams" counterterrorism, and more, she said.

Street closures, reroutes and other restrictions will be enforced in lower Manhattan for Thursday’s festivities, which start at 10 a.m.

Pens open at 6 a.m., but some of the rules will go into effect Wednesday and cover beyond the parade route, known as the Canyon of Heroes. Afterward, at City Hall, the Knicks will be awarded keys to the city.

Parking will be banned south of Canal Street beginning at 7 p.m. on Wednesday — and all vehicles left on the street there will be towed away. By 7 a.m., no vehicles will be allowed south of Canal Street, from the East River to the Hudson. FDR Drive and the West Side Highway will stay open.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who's planning to ride on the Knicks float, has said the parade could be the city’s biggest ever. He’s suggested arriving at least two hours early and predicted that some paradegoers would arrive even earlier.

Mass transit is the best way to get to the parade — and anywhere downtown — Tisch said.

Beginning at 4:30 a.m., the City Hall and Wall Street subway stations will be closed, but nearby stations will be open, including Bowling Green (4, 5), Fulton Street (4, 5, J, Z, 2, 3), Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall (4, 5, 6), Chambers Street (J, Z), and Park Place (2, 3).

There will be 23 access points to the parade zone.

Those who work or live near the parade will be allowed access to restricted streets with ID.

On Saturday, just after the Knicks won, tens of thousands poured into city streets. Most were not unruly, but a minority caused unrest, including the shooting of a teen in Times Square, school buses damaged and one going up in flames, tightrope-walking on and pull-ups from streetlight mast arms, climbing onto scaffolding, discharging fire extinguishers, overtaking city vehicles and assaulting cops. There were 63 arrests. 

"There will be no tolerance for violence and disorder," Tisch said. "Anyone who breaks the law should expect swift enforcement action and immediate consequences."

The kind of misbehavior seen in the immediate aftermath of the Knicks championship — fueled by surprise, spontaneous joy and groupthink — is far less likely at the parade, said Maia Niguel Hoskin, a mental-health expert and assistant professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

"At parades, there are these kinds of unsaid, informal social norms and expectations of how to conduct yourself," she said.

And then there's the presence of players and coaches and officials.

"Believe it or not, that impacts fans in particular in communities even more than the presence of law enforcement." she said. "Like, 'I know my favorite player is present. I don't want to act crazy, right?'"