Atlanta Wants to Spend $90 million to Build Largest Police Facility Ever. Here's How To Stop It.

Our Statement on Atlanta's Planned Police Training Facility

Atlanta is looking to build a $90 million+ police training facility twice the size of already oversized police training facilities in New York and Los Angeles.

Destroying a Historic Ecosystem

Officials say a new Atlanta police training center will boost morale, retention and recruitment of officers, despite opposition to the proposal. (Photo: Atlanta Police Foundation)

Approved by the Atlanta City Council in September 2021, this project will have social and economic implications for the city that it cannot afford.

It requires destroying no small degree of undeveloped forest, effectually furthering the decline of an already ravaged ecosystem. The South River Forest is essential in our defense against climate change. The forest mitigates flooding, the trees act as an air purifier and filter for pollution, protecting the residents from the city’s overwhelming heat.

This project is just an extension of the destruction of Black neighborhoods and mass surveillance projects that seek to oppress marginalized communities.

Destroying this green space will disparately impact Black folx, as do most hazardous choices.

A Poor Antidote to Police Brutality

We at SisterLove vehemently oppose Cop-City.

Protestor against police brutality in Atlanta. Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images

Cop City is pitched on the idea that more training will increase the effectiveness of policing. More training will require more funding and exponentially more resources being put towards systems in place to police and surveil Black communities.

History has proven that we cannot rely on the police for safety, and instances of police brutality increase when there is more police presence.

This only allows for police to have more weapons in their arsenal to oppress the communities that they occupy. This will only increase the scope of policing as we know it.

Overpolicing the Black Community

As Black folx, we know the presence of police causes stress and fear in our own neighborhoods. We don’t want to live in police states and heavily policed communities.

Police officers brutalize protesters near the CNN Center in Atlanta on May 29, 2020; Photo: Mike Stewart/AP

This project is just an extension of the destruction of Black neighborhoods and mass surveillance projects that seek to oppress marginalized communities. It is unfathomable that we would continue investing in systems that oppress us amid mounting issues of police brutality, inflation, high unemployment rates, and a full-blown housing crisis.

Black lives matter, and this needs to be reflected in how we treat Black communities.

Supporting Police Over Black Lives

Investing in increased policing is antithetical to Black folx living lives free of oppression.

Protestor holds a sign while marching, following the guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, in Atlanta on April 20, 2021 Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images

This is community violence. This is a divestment from our resilient communities. This is a divestment in the safety and security of Black lives.

We don’t need to fund police to engage in domestic terrorism in our communities. Policing and police structures seek to maintain systems of oppression originating from white supremacy. This is diametrically opposed to our abolitionist ideals. Policing becomes null when the needs of people in the community are met by the members of that community.

The resources being put into Cop City should be funding other priorities related to our community’s health and well-being. This includes funding community-based organizations and direct service providers.

For more information on how to fight back, please visit defendtheatlantaforest.org.

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