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Cop City

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Coordinates: 33°41′38″N 84°20′10″W / 33.69383°N 84.33606°W / 33.69383; -84.33606
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Atlanta Public Safety Training Center
Architect's drawing of the training campus
Map
Alternative namesCop City
General information
StatusUnder construction
LocationSouth River Forest, DeKalb County, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates33°41′38″N 84°20′10″W / 33.69383°N 84.33606°W / 33.69383; -84.33606
Cost$90 million
OwnerAtlanta Police Foundation (majority investor)
LandlordCity of Atlanta
Grounds85 acres (34.4 ha)
Design and construction
EngineerTerracon
Website
www.atltrainingcenter.com

The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, commonly known as Cop City, is a police and fire department training campus under construction in the South River Forest area of DeKalb County near Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Much of the land included in the plans was formerly part of the Old Atlanta Prison Farm, which was abandoned in 1995.

In 2021, the location was identified by the City of Atlanta as the only suitable location to build the training center. This resulted in the development of Stop Cop City, a multi-faceted movement opposing the construction of the training center. In January 2023, Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, a member of the Stop Cop City movement, was fatally shot by Atlanta police. Following the shooting, law enforcement accused Terán of firing at officers; however, this is disputed by Terán's family. Protesters affiliated with the Stop Cop City movement were arrested in late 2022 and early 2023 and charged with domestic terrorism offenses; the validity of these charges has been called into question and created a nationwide controversy.[1]

Description

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The $90 million[2] construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center began in spring 2023 on an 85-acre plot of land in the South River Forest, DeKalb County, Georgia.[3][4] The land is owned by the City of Atlanta.[4]

Once complete, the center is planned to be used as a training campus for police and fire services and is expected to open at the end of 2023.[5] Planned facilities include classrooms, a burn building, a mock city (including apartments, a bar/nightclub, and a school), and a shooting range.[5][6] 265 surrounding acres of the site are planned to be used as green-space.[6]

Land use history

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The Muscogee peoples lived in the area of the South River Forest until the 1830s, when the United States federal government forcibly removed most of the community to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) during the Trail of Tears.[7] The name for this land in the Muscogee language was "Weelaunee," translatable as "brown water [place]."[8]

After the Muscogee people were displaced, logging in the area removed much of the oak–hickory forest community. The Muscogee people harvested from the forest for human needs, including acorn flour for food and hickory wood for toolmaking.[9]

Abandoned building on the site, 2013

The site was initially purchased in 1863 by the City of Atlanta for use as a cemetery during the American Civil War, but it was never used for that purpose.[10] In 1917, the federal government purchased the land to be used as a prisoner-of-war camp,[10]: i  and it was used as the Atlanta Prison Farm from 1920 until 1995.[10]

After it was vacated, the building was used to illegally dump tires, and was damaged by serious fires in 2009 and 2017.[10]

Cop City development history

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See also: Stop Cop City
Stop Cop City graffiti

Terracon Consultants are the acting consultants to Atlanta Police Foundation, the project client.[10]

In September 2021, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, accompanied by Dave Wilkinson, CEO of the Atlanta Police Foundation, said the site had been selected to house a training center, as it was deemed the only suitable location available to the city.[11] Bottoms had previously endorsed the use of the site in spring of the same year.[11] Pre-construction clearing of the site began in May 2022.[12]

January 2023 protests against the construction

Since 2021,[6] the site has been the subject of numerous public gatherings and protests. Community events, including skill shares, guided hikes, and musical performances have been held.[13][14]

Five protesters were arrested in December 2022 and charged with domestic terrorism.[15][16] In January 2023, 26-year-old[6] protester Manuel Esteban Paez Terán was fatally shot by police.[3] According to a lawyer working on behalf of Terán's mother, an independent autopsy revealed "Both Manuel's left and right hands show exit wounds in both palms. The autopsy further reveals that Manuel was most probably in a seated position, cross-legged when killed."[17]

January 2023 protest signs

On March 5, 2023, protesters threw large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at police officers, and destroyed various construction vehicles.[4][2] Hours later, police raided the nearby South River Music Festival and detained 35 people, alleging that vandals had hidden in the crowd.[18] Twenty-three people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism, although arrest warrants did not present evidence of violence or property damage.[18] Of the arrestees, one was from France, one was from Canada, and two were residents of the state of Georgia.[2][16][19] Only one of the 23 arrestees was offered bond: a lawyer for the Southern Poverty Law Center, who had only been there for observation and because of this was freed on a $5,000 bond.[20]

By May, prosecutors had charged more than 40 protesters with domestic terrorism,[21] a move that Human Rights Watch called an "attempt to smear protesters as national security threats".[22]

At a May 2023 public meeting, Atlanta City Council members faced record-setting public opposition to a vote providing $31 million for the Cop City project. At the time, the project had received $60 million of corporate funding and was several months delayed.[23] On May 31, a SWAT team arrested three organizers of a bail fund that had supported protesters with bail and legal defense. Those arrested were charged with money laundering and charity fraud.[24][25] That same month, developers finished clearing the site of all existing vegetation and debris in preparation for construction.[26]

On June 6, 2023, the Atlanta City Council approved the $31 million funding after more than 16 hours of in-person public comment from over 300 speakers, the vast majority of whom were opposed to the project.[27][21][28] More than 1,000 people signed up to speak,[29] but hundreds of people were not admitted to the building.[30]

In June 2023, a coalition of activist groups opposed to the construction project announced their plans to force a referendum on Cop City.[31] The referendum was inspired by a similar successful effort in Camden County, GA.[21] The Georgia constitution allows residents to force a referendum on decisions by local governments if they can get 15% of registered voters to sign petition; in Atlanta, 60,000[21] to 70,000[32] signatures would be required. The referendum against Cop City would cancel the city’s lease to the Atlanta Police Foundation, which the city said isn't legal.[33]

In September 2023, organizers submitted 116,000 signatures for the referendum, but the City Council refused to count them, and said the activists had missed the deadline to turn in the signatures. That deadline had been extended by US District Judge Mark Cohen, but the city's appeal of that decision is being considered by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.[33]

61 activists affiliated with the Defend the Atlanta Forest group were charged with racketeering in September 2023.[34]

References

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  1. ^ Lennard, Natasha (March 9, 2023). "Atlanta Cop City Protesters Charged with Domestic Terror for Having Mud on Their Shoes". The Intercept. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Valencia, Rebekah Riess,Dakin Andone,Nick (March 6, 2023). "23 face domestic terrorism charges after arrests in 'Cop City' protests at planned police training site in Atlanta". CNN. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Stepansky, Joseph. "Officials charge 23 with 'terrorism' in Atlanta 'Cop City' march". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "Atlanta 'Cop City': Arrests as protesters clash with police". BBC News. March 6, 2023. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Maxouris, Christina (September 24, 2022). "Atlanta wants to build a massive police training facility in a forest. Neighbors are fighting to stop it". CNN. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Yancey-Bragg, N'dea. "What is 'Cop City?' Why activists are protesting police, fire department training center in Atlanta". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  7. ^ "The New Fight Over an Old Forest in Atlanta". The New Yorker. August 3, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  8. ^ Magazine, Atlanta (January 20, 2023). ""The birds stopped singing": Inside the battle for Atlanta's South River Forest". Atlanta Magazine. Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  9. ^ "Perspective: A Walk through Weelaunee Forest". www.thexylom.com. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  10. ^ a b c d e "Phase I Environmental Site Assessment" (Archived March 7, 2023, at the Wayback Machine), Terracon Consultants, April 22, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Huynh, Anjali (September 9, 2021). "Atlanta Mayor Bottoms says forested land only option for public safety training center". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  12. ^ Public Safety Training Centre Update Archived March 7, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, Atlanta Police Foundation, 2022
  13. ^ Crosbie, Jack (September 3, 2022). "The Battle for 'Cop City'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  14. ^ Collective, CrimethInc Ex-Workers (April 11, 2022). "CrimethInc. : The City in the Forest : Reinventing Resistance for an Age of Climate Crisis and Police Militarization". CrimethInc. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  15. ^ "Protesters respond to 'domestic terrorism' arrests at future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center site". CBS news. December 16, 2022. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  16. ^ a b Amy, Jeff (March 6, 2023). "23 charged with terrorism in Atlanta 'Cop City' protest". Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  17. ^ Radde, Kaitlyn (March 11, 2023). "Autopsy reveals anti-'Cop City' activist's hands were raised when shot and killed". NPR. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Muddy Clothes? 'Cop City' Activists Question Police Evidence". US News and World Report. March 2023.
  19. ^ 23 charged with domestic terrorism after a violent night at Atlanta public safety training center site Archived March 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, WSB via Yahoo, March 6, 2023
  20. ^ Judge denied bond for all but 1 of 23 arrested for attack at planned police training facility Archived March 8, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, WSB via Yahoo, March 7, 2023
  21. ^ a b c d Bethea, Charles (August 12, 2023). "Can "Cop City" Be Stopped at the Ballot Box?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  22. ^ Pratt, Timothy (August 28, 2023). "'Threatened and vulnerable': Cop City activists labeled as terrorists pay high price". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  23. ^ Pratt, Timothy (May 20, 2023). "Atlanta politicians face pressure to vote against giving $31m to 'Cop City'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on June 17, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  24. ^ Bethea, Charles (August 12, 2023). "Can "Cop City" Be Stopped at the Ballot Box?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  25. ^ Pratt, Timothy (August 28, 2023). "'Threatened and vulnerable': Cop City activists labeled as terrorists pay high price". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  26. ^ "Here's a look at the construction site of the Atlanta public safety training center". 11Alive.com. May 26, 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  27. ^ Keenan, Sean; Rojas, Rick (June 6, 2023). "Atlanta City Council Approves 'Cop City' Funding Despite Protests". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  28. ^ Wendling, Mike (June 6, 2023). "Atlanta 'Cop City': Money approved for controversial training centre". BBC News. Archived from the original on June 14, 2023. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  29. ^ "1,000+ turn out, sign up for Atlanta City Council comment period on public safety training center issue". 11Alive.com. June 5, 2023. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  30. ^ Andrews, Amanda (June 5, 2023). "Hundreds speak against Atlanta police training facility during City Council public comment". Georgia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  31. ^ "Atlanta organizers unveil plan to stop 'Cop City' at the ballot box". AP NEWS. June 7, 2023. Archived from the original on June 21, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  32. ^ "'Cop City' protesters collect enough signatures to put referendum on ballot". ABC News. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  33. ^ a b "Judge blames Atlanta officials for confusion over 'Stop Cop City' referendum campaign". Washington Post. September 13, 2023. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  34. ^ "Atlanta 'Cop City': Dozens face racketeering charges for protests". BBC News. September 6, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
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