Strict Security Procedures Set

A spokesman for the baseball commissioner’s office expressed confidence Friday about safety at the World Series.

“All necessary precautions are being taken,” Pat Courtney said. “Stadium personnel have received extra training, and we’re also relying heavily on local police, FBI and other agencies. We’ve made many changes [since the Sept. 11 attacks] that have worked out well.”

Fans have faced more scrutiny at ballparks since play resumed Sept. 17, undergoing inspections of their bags on entering ballparks. Coolers, backpacks and large bags are no longer permitted under revised guidelines.

Parking has been restricted within 100 feet of any stadium and all deliveries are inspected. Concrete barricades are in place at Yankee Stadium, where the Series shifts Tuesday for Game 3.

Metal detectors were not used during the final week of the regular season or in the National and American League playoffs, but they will be used in the Series.

“We will have those,” said George Bevans, vice president of security at Bank One Ballpark. “We will have the metal detectors at each gate, hand metal detectors, and that will be a random thing.”

He is coordinating security for the first two games with Kevin Hallinan, baseball’s executive director of security and facility management. They are working with the Yankees, city and state officials in Phoenix and New York and federal law-enforcement agencies.

“We’ve been meeting since September 11th with every agency for every game,” Bevans said. “The FBI, the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms] ... everyone. Everybody’s been really great about helping us out, making everybody feel comfortable with what we’re doing. It will be basically what has been going on for the last two series.

“You cannot bring in large backpacks, or backpacks at all, coolers or large bags. If you do bring in a fanny pack, a diaper bag or a sandwich bag, or anything else like that, they will be searched at the gate. If you don’t have anything, you’ll just walk right into the ballpark.”

Some have expressed concerns about racial and ethnic profiling in the wake of the attacks in New York and Washington. Bevans said that some fans might be scrutinized more than others, but downplayed the use of profiling.

“To say that we’re ‘profiling’ is a nasty word,” he said. “If we have probable cause to ask somebody to step out of line and do a more intensive search, we’ll do that.”

The Diamondbacks said they have felt safe in the playoffs, and they’re confident in security at Yankee Stadium.

“As far as security is concerned, I think that’s going to be the safest place in the country right now,” first baseman Mark Grace said. “That being said, as far as September 11, yes, New York and Washington, D.C., were extremely affected by those events. But so was Phoenix. So was the whole nation.”