Barclays Center may be the most watched piece of property in Brooklyn, with roughly a dozen police security camera stations surrounding the arena at any given time.
The cameras were quietly installed by police on the tops of lampposts, making the entirety of the property’s exterior viewable from any angle with just a click of a mouse, according to Brooklyn Paper. Deputy Inspector Michael Ameri of the 78th precinct, which patrols outside the Barclays Center, said that his team has around-the-clock live feeds of crowds flowing past the stadium.
“It’s a big arena and like any major venue or any bridges or tunnels or stadiums or schools and colleges, they will have cameras for safety,” Ameri said.
And perhaps surprisingly, the cameras have thus far been relatively uncontroversial, with even the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has campaigned against the expanded use of hidden security cameras, saying that they were not concerned about the high level of police surveillance at Barclays Center.
“It doesn’t come as any surprise that there are surveillance cameras around the arena,” Letitia James, City Council member and outspoken critic of the Atlantic Yards project, said. “It’s not a question of good or bad — most arenas do have surveillance cameras.” [Brooklyn Paper] – Christopher Cameron