Clergy denounce 'anarchists,' calls for support for Atlanta public safety training center

ATLANTA - Religious leaders, Atlanta City Council members and members of Atlanta's business community held a news conference at Atlanta City Hall on Friday to voice their support for Atlanta's planned controversial public safety training center, and to denounce those behind the recent riot and violent demonstrations which they describe as "anarchists."

"We fervently and unapologetically denounce and abhor what we witnessed at the police and firefighter training facility, unbridled violence. Violence is not the answer," said Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, Concerned Black Clergy.

The group said they support peaceful demonstrations, but had harsh words for the rioters who attacked police at the construction site Sunday.

"If you are going to protest then protest in peace.  If you are going to demonstrate, demonstrate with dignity," the pastor said.

"Our police are having to respond to the potential for violence which is taking away police coverage for their own citizens. So, if their goal is to demonstrate to influence citizens to be against the training facility I'm sure it's having the opposite effect," said Atlanta City Council member Michael Julian Bond.

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Members of the faith community and others in favor of the training center said they have met with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other city leaders about plans for the proposed site and those who have staged peaceful demonstrations in opposition to the facility.

"If their intention is to reform policing they are having the opposite effect by tolerating violence," said Bond.

Only two of the 23 people arrested are from Georgia.

What is the 'Cop City'? Future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center

The Atlanta Police Foundation, the major force behind the project, officially calls it the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, but for those who oppose it, it is called "Cop City."

According to the foundation, the city of Atlanta has owned an 380-acre tract of land since 1918 when it purchased it from DeKalb County for the purpose of building a prison farm for non-violent offenders. Prison buildings would be built, farm land would be plowed, and pasture land cleared. It remained in use until 1995.

Starting around the mid-1990s, the city began using the land for portions of their training, even housing temporary facilities until the current Public Safety Training Center was completed. The foundation says various portions of the land, to this day, continue to be used by police and firefighters training in weapons, fire fighting, and explosives detection.

A section of the land was also used as a burial site for animals from the Atlanta Zoo at one point, the foundation says. The current Metro Regional Youth Detention Center sits adjacent to the land on the south side off Constitution Road.

While there have been rumors possible human remains or artifacts on the land, the foundation points to an archeological and historic preservation study which found no trace.

The old prison farm land was not at the top of the list when the Atlanta Police Foundations was asked by the Atlanta Police Department and then-Mayor Shirley Franklin to begin outlining what a future training facility should look like. It was only when foundation members began to identify the various training needs, did the site emerge as being a viable location.

One of the biggest challenges was a versatile and dynamic location able to change and grow with the departments needs for the next half-century. Initially, designers were looking at developing 150 acres, but the Atlanta City Council asked them to scale it back to 85 acres. That has become the current plan.

The training center would include a shooting range, classrooms, a mock village, an emergency vehicle driving course, stables for police horses, and a "burn building" for firefighters to practice putting out fires. 

Why is the ‘Cop City,’ Atlanta Public Safety Training Center site controversial? 

Environmental concerns of ‘Cop City’

A big portion of the controversy stems from a non-binding resolution passed by the Atlanta City Council in 2017. With the "City Design Plan," the city was hoping the area would be preserved as greenspace and become part of a greater effort to renew the South River Forest Basin.

The Atlanta Police Foundation argues that only 22% of the site will be used and the remaining land can be opened as a public park. A map on the foundation’s website shows the areas around Intrenchment Creek, a tributary and nearby lakes surrounded by greenspace. The design even includes natural trails amid the training facility campus and would like to the link to Michelle Obama Park on the east side.

The current plans show the training campus to the west of high-tension power lines that cut through the property. The remaining property to the east would remain untouched, including the remains of the old prison farm facilities along Key Road.

After five years of the plan being shown to various local civic organizations and undergoing several dozen changes to the plan, it was finally presented to the city council in early 2021. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms would create a site committee to study the plans.

Those plans include leasing the land to the Atlanta Police Foundation for 30 operational years on top of the time needed for development and construction of the site. The foundation would need to raise $60 million to pay for two-thirds of the construction cost. The city would then pitch in about $1 million a year for 30 years for maintenance and operational costs.

During the planning stage, a Community Stakeholders Advisory Committee was created comprised of leaders from the 13 surrounding neighborhoods. The committee stipulated that all environmental laws be followed and the final construction needed to be LEED-certified. In addition, the foundation pledged to plant 100 new trees.

The foundation also counters environmentalists’ claims that the site would impact "old growth forest." With the site having been clear-cut several times in the last century, a foundation study found fewer than 20 specimen trees.

‘Police state’ concerns linger about ‘Cop City’

A year before the Atlanta City Council would see the initial plans for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a series of officer-involved shooting deaths in 2020 would give many pause to the use of force by police officers. Names like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks would be spoken across the country, would spark a rebirth in the Black Lives Matter movement, and for many, would start a wildfire of debate over current policing policies.

Some of the anger was directed towards the new proposed training facility in Atlanta. Some claim such a real-world facility would only serve to increase the aggression, militarization, and overreach of law enforcement officers.

The Atlanta Police Foundation counters those claims writing on their site:

"Just the opposite: Atlanta will finally have training facilities worthy and appropriate to training a 21st Century police force. Our conception is for a training center that is publicly accessible and designed to encourage police/citizen interaction to engender trust within our community."

The foundation says during a series of meetings between the Atlanta police chief and the various NPUs in the city conducted in August 2022, Black communities were just as vocal about a more visible and well-training police force to combat crime.

"Contrary to the complaints of a small group of people who want to ‘defund the police,’ citizens see police presence as a protection against crime, and as sentinels for public safety," the foundation wrote on its website.

Some argue the training facility is more than twice the size of the NYPD facility in Queens or the training center for Chicago police, both which are less than 35 acres. The foundation counters that Charlotte, Milwaukee and Las Vegas all have larger facilities than Atlanta proposed one. They add that each of those facilities are 1.5 to 6 times more expensive.

The training facility plan was approved by the Atlanta City Council in October 2021 in an 11-4 vote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report