Metal detectors being installed at Spokane Arena

To improve security and meet standards set by other event centers, the Spokane Arena is installing walk-through metal detectors at its main entrances.

General manager Matt Gibson said about two-dozen metal detectors will be installed in time for the Spokane Chiefs home opener on Oct. 1. The project is months in the making and has little to do with recent events involving gun violence, he said.

“This is not a reaction to anything that’s happened in the last few weeks,” he said.

The Arena has a strict no-weapons policy. Gibson said modern security measures are a way of staying “relevant” among similar venues.

The first metal detectors are being installed this weekend, in time for the James Taylor concert on Saturday.