As the city of Atlanta moves ahead with its plan to build a controversial public safety training center, which opponents have dubbed “Cop City,” Fulton County is working on its own police training facility to replace one the county has to leave.
Fulton’s plan is much smaller and cheaper than Atlanta’s $90 million project — and is not on a controversial site.
Unlike Atlanta’s proposed facility — which has drawn protests, hours of testimony at city council meetings, and bloodshed — Fulton’s plan has thus far flown under the radar.
But that may soon change, according to opponents of Atlanta’s facility.
Fulton County’s training center has faced few public votes, and when it did it was buried on an agenda among many other items. No one spoken against the Fulton County plan during commission meetings.
The Fulton County Commission approved a bond issue in December 2021 that included the $15 million training center as one of the money’s uses. It was also in the commission-approved county budget for this year.
The county has had a police training facility for many years. Since 2005, it has been in a building designed as the shooting range for the 1996 Olympics.
But now that building is deteriorating, according to Fulton County Police Chief Wade Yates. And soon its ownership will be transferred to the city of South Fulton along with the adjacent Wolf Creek Amphitheater, one of several property transfers since that city’s incorporation in 2017.
So the county is buying an existing, unoccupied building for a new training center near the animal shelter under construction on Fulton Industrial Boulevard, County Manager Dick Anderson has said.
The next commission vote related to the training center will be approving a contractor to renovate the building, according to county spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt.
The building purchase is expected to be complete this summer. A construction contract should go out this year, with the center finished in mid-2024, according to Anderson.
So far there has been no public opposition to the county’s training center, which will essentially continue the work already occurring in the existing old facility, Corbitt said.
Some opponents of the Atlanta training center, however, say they expect the county’s project will draw criticism.
“I honestly believe that this facility will be opposed as well,” said the Rev. Keyanna Jones. “Local governments are proving how inept they are at fiscal responsibility and maintenance of municipal resources with these training facility projects. People are tired of their tax dollars being wasted on property which serves no good to the community.”
The Fulton center provides basic law enforcement training for up to 200 officers annually, through 12-week sessions held six times a year. Another 5,600 officers a year take various classes at the center, ranging from one day to two weeks, he said. Courses offered there include certifications, crisis intervention, first responder and firearms training, among other programs, according to the county website.
The Fulton County Police Department, Sheriff’s Office, Marshal’s Office and 60 other local, state and federal agencies use it. That includes MARTA police, Georgia State University police, and driver training for Atlanta city police, Yates said.
County plans for the police training center and a new, larger jail — which could cost $2 billion — are “more of the same” from elected officials, local organizer Micah Herskind said.
“Once again, they’re investing in cops and jails rather than the services and resources that communities need to be safe,” Herskind said. “The proposal confirms warnings from Atlanta organizers that Cop City will be a blueprint for the creation of similar facilities. This plan represents $15 million for police that could instead be invested in programs that actually contribute to community safety, as Atlanta and Fulton residents have consistently called for from their elected officials.”
The Atlanta Police Foundation, which is leading construction of the city’s training center for police and firefighters, asked years ago if Fulton County wanted to be involved in that project, Anderson said. But there were two obstacles apart from the fierce public resistance: the 85-acre site is in DeKalb County, not Fulton; and Fulton would’ve had to pay about $4 million a year to use it for training.
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