The NYPD is planning a massive security presence for baseball’s Opening Day – to make sure that Met fans are safe at home and Yankee sluggers are the only bombers in the House that Ruth Built.
And this tightened security may well last all the season.
Department sources told The Post yesterday that more than 500 cops and dozens of extra off-duty officers will be on hand at both stadiums on Opening Day to make sure security is tight.
“It’s going to be like a World Series game,” an NYPD source said.
The home opener for the Mets is April 1 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. For the Yankees, it’s April 5 against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Under the security plan, police are planning to post snipers in high places, deploy patrol boats in the rivers near Shea and Yankee stadiums and use sniffer dogs to find suspicious packages.
The effort will also include high-tech devices such as air sensors that can detect hazardous chemicals and Hazmat teams to handle any that are found. Officers with video cameras will tape illegal actions.
In addition, undercover cops will circulate through the crowd looking for troublemakers.
Fans will also be barred from bringing coolers and backpacks into both ballparks.
Except for an increase in the number of cops – and a host of new security cameras in Yankee Stadium – the measures are identical to steps taken during last year’s World Series battle between the Bombers and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Police brass have met with Met representatives, and they said they want the same kind of security measures provided to the Yankees last fall, source said.
Police officials envision this level of security continuing for every game this year – whether it’s a run-of-the-mill Yankee contest against the lowly Kansas City Royals, or the Mets in a pitched pennant battle with the Atlanta Braves.
“Right now, they’re talking about doing this for the whole season,” said a source. “There are no specific threats, but this is just to keep anything from happening.”