Newark's top cop urged the throngs of Whitney Houston fans expected to descend on the city for the superstar's private, invite-only funeral to stay home Saturday as police plan to lock down streets near the church.
 

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Houston will be laid to rest after the noon service at New Hope Baptist Church, where she sang in the choir as a child. The perimeter surrounding the church -- about six square blocks -- will be shut down beginning at 7 a.m., Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio said at a news briefing. 

Only family members and individuals invited to the funeral will be allowed within that inner perimeter, he said.

"I would advise the public that there really is going to be nothing to see here at the church. The best thing to do would be to stay home and watch the service on television," DeMaio added. "The privacy the family is seeking for the funeral ... the NPD is going to do everything they can to ensure that."

Police have already closed Sussex Avenue, and dozens of officers will be working overtime Saturday to enforce the six-block frozen zone.

Some taxpayers in Newark weren't happy about happy for security at a funeral they couldn't attend.

"That's the reason why we should have an opportunity to view the body, as well as the family, because she was a public figure, and most of her money came from the public," said Pat McNeal, a Houston fan outside the New Hope Baptist Church Thursday.

"To prohibit the public from going is kind of ridiculous," added Ross Brown, another fan. "They should have made it like a Michael Jackson kind of thing."

Source: NBC New York