Atlanta approves funding for controversial police training facility
Atlanta City Councilmembers Keisha Sean Waites and Michael Julian Bond joined ‘America’s Newsroom' to discuss their stance on the police training facility.
Protesters and activists have fiercely resisted the recently approved "Cop City" facility in Atlanta over fears it would harm the city's most vulnerable population, something one expert believes is the opposite of what will happen.
"It's a win-win," Charles "Cully" Stimson, Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow, told Fox News Digital. "By training officers and keeping them certified and holding them accountable for the few who make a mistake and using that training facility for best practices, you're going to reduce Fourth and Fifth Amendment violations."
Stimson's comments come after the Atlanta City Council on Tuesday voted to approve $31 million in funding for the $90 million Copy City project, which supporters envision will become a state-of-the-art center where local police and first responders receive critical training to better prepare them for their duties.
The facility will include areas for officers to work on driving techniques and firearms training, while including mock stores, homes and nightclubs meant to simulate environments police may find themselves in on the job.
Protesters gather in the atrium of Atlanta City Hall to protest the proposed police training center. (Natrice Miller/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
But the project has faced fierce resistance from many in the community who argue it will serve to militarize the police and bring harm to marginalized communities within the city that may already fear interaction with officers.
Tuesday's vote to approve the center was marked by the resistance to the project. A meeting turned into a marathon 16-hour session where over 300 people, mostly objecting to the funding, made their voices heard to council members.
The majority of those who voiced their thoughts opposed the facility.
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"Cop City has already proven to be a source of violence, oppression, militarized approaches to civilians, unconstitutional activity and economic and environmental disaster," Susi Durán, a leader in the Atlanta chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, said of the complex, according to a report from The New York Times.
Some voiced concerns about the taxpayer cost of the facility, though the bulk of the project will be funded by the Atlanta Police Foundation, a nonprofit police support organization. Others objected to the center's potential impact on green spaces around Atlanta, arguing it would have a negative environmental impact.
Despite those concerns, the council voted 11-4 to fund the facility, and Stimson argued it showed an understanding of the value of the complex.
"The fact that the City Council voted 11-4 for this shows you, in my opinion, that $90 million is a pretty cheap, efficient use of money for that type of facility," Stimson said.
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Stimson argued that those protesting the facility are "divorced from reality," noting that crime has been on the rise in Atlanta, and the city's law enforcement officers need to be trained to better deal with it.
"Criminals run rampant in the city and only half of homicides, half or murderers get caught and go to jail," he said.
Instead, Stimson said, those concerned should welcome the complex, arguing the enhanced training stands to benefit everyone in the community.
Environmental activists hold a rally and a march through the Atlanta Forest, a preserved forest where a police training center is proposed. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
"You want a modern, efficient training center that gives recruits and current members of the force in good standing the ability to not only practice and hone their skills, but update their learning," Stimson said, adding that officers will continue to be updated on the "newest laws and techniques, newest developments in the Fourth Amendment, search and seizure context, the newest developments in the Fifth Amendment context."
Following the vote to approve funding for the center, organizers announced they filed for a referendum to put the question to voters in the election later this year.
"Today, we are here to let the people decide. The people need to have a voice in whether or not there is a Cop City," Kamau Franklin, an organizer and the founder of Community Movement Builders, said at a press conference at Atlanta City Hall Wednesday, according to CBS News. "Every poll that we've taken, it has shown that a majority of Atlantans are against Cop City."
The referendum must first receive legal approval and requires a petition with 70,000 signatures to be eligible for placement on the November ballot, something resident Eloise Mitchell, who was opposed to the City Council vote, doesn't think should be a problem.
"If the people are showing up, and the people are saying they don't want this, for City Council just to ignore all the people, that's problematic," she told CBS News.
Atlanta Police cruiser (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
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"It doesn't need to be trick words," Mitchell added. "It needs to be straightforward on the ballot, so people know what they're voting for, so they can understand what people really want."
But Stimson believes the training center would be a better way to alleviate resident concerns about their relationship with law enforcement, pointing out that there are several such centers around the country that have operated successfully for years.
Stimson specifically pointed to one such facility in San Diego, noting that while other major cities in California and around the country have seen an increase in crime in recent years, San Diego has remained relatively untouched by the issue. Part of the reason for that, according to Stimson, is "San Diego has had a police training facility, state-of-the-art, in North County in San Diego, for decades."
Such a facility in Atlanta would also work to the benefit the very people concerned about the ramifications of Cop City, Stimson argued.
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"You're going to reduce officer involved shootings," Stimson argued.
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