Activists plan to gather in Little Five Points on Oct. 14 to protest the city of Atlanta’s public safety training center to be built on dozens of acres of city-owned forested land near the South River in DeKalb County.
The family-friendly rally organized by the “Stop Cop City” movement begins at 4:30 p.m. at Findley Plaza. It is one of many “Weekend of Action” events planned with another group known as “Defend the Atlanta Forest.”
The grassroots groups have organized numerous mostly peaceful protests against the public training center facility, which they call “Cop City,” after the City Council approved the project last year. The protesters call the hundreds of acre near the South River the Weelaunee Forest, what they say the area was called when it was home to the Native American Muscogee Nation. The land was also where the Old Atlanta Prison Farm was located.
Some protesters have used vandalism to try to stop the construction of the public training facility. In May, Atlanta Police arrested several protesters they said were trespassing on the site.
In July, Defend the Atlanta Forest activists chained themselves to the Charlotte, N.C., office of Brasfield & Gorrie, the general contractor selected to build the training center. APD officials have said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the FBI are assisting in their investigations of incidents at the property.
Plans are to build the public training facility on 85 acres of city-owned land standing within more than 300 acres of mostly forested land off Key Road in DeKalb County. Funding to build the $90 million facility is being raised from many local corporations by the nonprofit Atlanta Police Foundation, which will lease the land from the city. Taxpayers are expected to pay more than $30 million for the new training center.
The Atlanta Police Foundation says the new facility is needed, in part, to improve morale and recruitment after dozens of police officers quit the force following the 2020 George Floyd protests.
The training facility itself will have a mock-up of a town, a firefighting “drill tower,” emergency vehicle operations course (EVOC), classroom space, a firing range, space for ordinance disposal, and space for a helicopter to land in case of an emergency.
The city had originally earmarked the property as part of a proposed “South River Forest” park.