PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Leave the heat at home, unless you're LeBron James.
That's the message being sent to NBA fans — and every other visitor to the new Barclays Center — who will have to pass through metal detectors and could be subjected to patdowns by security personnel frisking for weapons when the new arena opens, according to multiple reports.
Barclays Center representatives reportedly unveiled the tight security plans at a Tuesday night meeting regarding the new arena's operations. The Barclays Center is scheduled to open Sept. 28 with a Jay-Z concert.
"We take security very seriously. Just because something is not in the building doesn't mean that I won't get involved," Barclays Center head of security Robert Sena said, according to Patch.
Barclays Center security personnel, some of whom have been trained in disaster preparedness by the FBI, will deploy video cameras and bag searches, and if patrons "trigger a light" at the metal detectors, they'll be frisked, the New York Post reported.
While venues like Madison Square Garden and MetLife Stadium do patdowns, the Barclays Center will be the first in the tri-state area with walk-through metal detectors, the Post added.
"This is new technology that is more efficient, more effective, and less intrusive than a wand," Barclays Center spokesman Barry Baum said in an email. "We take security very seriously and these detectors will allow us to most effectively screen arena visitors."
The Barclays Center security team will also work closely with security personnel at the nearby Atlantic Center Mall, as well as with the Long Island Rail Road and Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which will "beef up their manning levels" at the newly renamed Atlantic Av-Barclays Center transit hub, watchdog blog Atlantic Yards Report wrote.
Officials said the arena could hold up to 18,200 fans during Brooklyn Nets games, and that off-duty NYPD cops would be brought in to handle large-scale crowds.
Community Board 2 chairman John Dew asked whether Barclays Center developer Forest City Ratner Companies would pay for the extra manpower.
"The answer is no," FCRC spokeswoman Ashley Cotton responded.
