For weeks of protests about a
proposed new Atlanta police training
facility site this afternoon,
city of Atlanta and DeKalb County
officials have confirmed that they are
moving forward toward construction.
Good evening. I'm Jennifer Bellamy.
And I'm faith Jesse.
The announcement was made
during a press conference with
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
And we have team coverage tonight.
Joe Ripley outside of City Hall,
get in reactions to the deals announcement,
but we begin with Bobeth Yates,
who was at today's announcement.
She joins us with details of this agreement.
Well, that's right.
The announcement today is that the city
of Atlanta and DeKalb County have come
to an agreement allowing the city to
receive its land use permit and begin
one of the final steps for construction.
Now officials confirm construction will
take place in approximately 30 acres of
land currently owned by the city Off Key Rd.
in de Kalb County.
Now the training facility though will
only use about 85 acres of that land.
It will also include a fire
department burning site.
Kennel and in an outdoor training
facility for the canine units,
gun ranges and even an emergency
vehicle obstacle course.
Now today,
the mayor said the training facility
is in a desperate need as currently
the city is having to rent and reserve
spaces at other agencies just to train
some of their officers and fire officials.
Now the city and officials
say despite this agreement,
one of their main concerns was
protecting the environment.
Take a listen,
we will
protect the neighborhoods. The families,
the individuals and most importantly,
we will protect the South River
Forest Basin, which is a unique,
a unique natural resource.
There's nothing else like it inside of
285 and it was our number one priority.
The City of Atlanta has the most extensive
training requirements in the southeast.
Our training includes vital areas like
de escalation, training techniques,
mental health, community.
Oriented policing, crisis intervention
training as well as civil rights,
history, education.
This training needs space.
And that's exactly what this
training center is going
to offer. Now, officials
want to stress this is not
just a police training site.
Again, there is a benefit for
the fire department.
And coming up at 6:00,
I have more details on why fire
officials say this is desperately needed.
Sending it to you guys. All
right, we look forward to it.
Beau Beth, Joe Ripley picks up our team
coverage live outside of City Hall.
Joe, the site of this proposed
public safety training facility
has met strong resistance.
So what are protesters who are opposed to
the latest development saying about this?
What we spoke to those protesters,
a few dozen of them posted up inside
and outside of City Hall chanting
against the building of this public
safety training facility being built.
And they held up signs reading stop cop city.
Of course that is the name they
are giving to this facility.
Other signs reading defend Atlanta force,
abolish police and blood on your hands.
Referencing the deadly shooting
protester Manuel Esteban Paez,
Tehran less than two weeks ago.
Protesters were initially concerned
the city of Atlanta and DeKalb County
leaders were announcing a compromise
and had failed to consult them,
but nothing like that was actually announced.
Protesters say their top concerns
as of this moment remain the
destruction of the environment,
plus their belief that the facility
promotes the militarization of police.
We
don't. We're not interested in any
kind of reduction in Cop city and
having it be a smaller facility
and having it being less acres.
We're not interested in moving the military
militarized training to another location.
We're not interested in
any of those concessions.
We want no cop city, period.
Meantime, tonight the city of Atlanta
says they are dedicating more than
1/3 of this development to greenspace,
parks and trails, things of that nature.
City leaders maintain they are
acting on sound research as they
are building this facility.
They've also long pledged to replace
any trees that were damaged or
removed in construction of this
public safety training center.
Coming up at 6 some of the protesters
you'll hear their concerns,
more of them,
plus why they're still optimistic
as this deal goes through.
Yeah, it doesn't seem like these
protesters are backing down tonight.
Joe, thank you so much for your report.