The Atlanta City Council has voted to move forward with a plan to provide funding for a police training center nicknamed “Cop City,” despite protests from citizens upset with the legislation.
The vote, which was delayed on Monday due to hundreds of people speaking out against the proposal on the city hall floor, was adopted in an 11-4 vote.
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The city’s plan is to set aside $30 million in order to help build the 85-acre facility where police, firefighters, and emergency responders would train. The new training center is slated to have a mock city, the echo of the “Cop City” name, as well as a “burn building” for firefighters, a firing range, a driving course, stables and pastures for police horses, and kennels for K-9s.
While the training center website says that the site is not for militarized police training, many residents are concerned that the creation of the center will only escalate violent encounters between police and community members, particularly young black men.
Authorities have continuously been cleaning out protesters’ camps in the South River Forest, where the training center is set to be built. The movement entered the national spotlight after authorities shot and killed environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Teran. He was shot more than 50 times, and state officials have claimed self-defense. However, many have cast doubt as to whether Teran fired a weapon like the police claimed he did.
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The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting.
Dozens of people voicing their disapproval of the police training center plan have been arrested in the past few months and charged with domestic terrorism.
