Mary Hooks was the first person to sign the petition for a ballot referendum on the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, dubbed “Cop City.” More than six weeks later, she now spends her days canvassing the streets of Atlanta collecting signatures from registered voters to get the issue on the ballot. The Cop City Vote […]
Policing
Posted inCop City
Mayor’s Task Force Proposes Community-Centric Changes for Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’
A task force assembled by Mayor Andre Dickens has announced its recommendations to make the controversial public safety training center known as “Cop City” more “community-oriented.” The group proposes involving community members in developing anti-bias courses and other police training curriculum that acknowledge the “difficult history” of policing in Atlanta. “[The task force subgroups] all […]
Posted inPolicing
‘Let the People Decide’: Organizers Want a Referendum on ‘Cop City’
A citywide referendum is the next step for organizers in Atlanta who are determined to prevent the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center known as “Cop City” in the South River Forest. Activists who’ve spent the last two years organizing against the project turned their attention to the referendum after Atlanta City Council […]
Posted inCity Politics, Policing, Public Safety, Uncategorized
Now That ‘Cop City’ Is Being Built, What’s Next?
The Atlanta City Council approved using public funds to build a controversial new public safety training center — dubbed “Cop City” by opponents — following more than 14 hours of rebuke from hundreds of local residents who traveled to City Hall on Monday to oppose it. An Atlanta Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee report released in […]
Posted inCity Politics, Policing, Public Safety, Uncategorized
Atlanta Leaders Just Voted to Approve ‘Cop City’ Funding
The Atlanta City Council voted early Tuesday morning to approve legislation to move forward with funding for a new public safety training center known as “Cop City.” The 11-4 vote came after more than 14 hours of public comment that stretched overnight — mostly from people in opposition. Less than two weeks earlier, Atlanta government […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Environmental Justice, Policing, Public Safety
Key Dates and Moments in Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Controversy
The latest chapter in Atlanta’s yearslong public safety training center saga begins this week and tensions at City Hall couldn’t be much higher. The Atlanta City Council is scheduled to vote on legislation that would transfer millions of taxpayer dollars to the Atlanta Police Foundation to pay for construction of the training center that opponents […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Georgia Victims of Police Brutality Tell the U.N. Their Story
Four years after an Atlanta police officer killed 21-year-old Jimmy Atchison, his father spoke in front of a United Nations delegation to the U.S. about their family’s continued fight for justice. “We knew from day one, the shooting of my son was not justified and should never have happened,” Atchison’s father, Jimmy Hill, told the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Higher Education, Policing
Why Atlanta College Students and Professors are Chanting, ‘Stop Cop City’
At a rally on Emory University’s quad earlier this week, Maresah Malcom, a senior from Decatur, joined just over 100 fellow students in protesting the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known as “Cop City.” Malcom said she came to the Stop Cop City demonstration because the facility is being built in the area where […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
How the Stop Cop City Movement Inspired Angela Davis
Add Angela Davis to the list of civil rights activists protesting the construction of a new law enforcement training facility in South River Forest known as “Cop City.” On March 24, while delivering the keynote address at the 20th Annual Walter Rodney Symposium at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, Davis […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Meet Some of the Black Voices on Dickens’ ‘Cop City’ Community Task Force
English Park resident Donna Stephens is one of 40 people who accepted Mayor Andre Dickens’ invitation to sit on the South River Forest and Public Safety Training Facility task force. Stephens accepted the invitation in large part because she is concerned about the environmental implications tied to the training center known as “Cop City.” Stephens […]