Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens held a press conference on the steps of city hall on April 19 to discuss the new public safety training center task force. Dickens announced the formation of the South River Forest Community Task Force and Public Safety Training Center Community Task Force, which are being created to seek further community input and receive expert recommendations on key issues.
There have been numerous protests that have turned violent due to these plans, and some people have called the facility “Cop City.” It is said that the construction of the building will cost $90 million.
Many community leaders came out to express support for the training facility, such as Ambassador Andrew Young and John Hope Bryant.
“We have to provide training for the young men and women that are keeping us safe,” Young said. “And that requires space. It requires the kind of cooperation that we have here. Though I’m not exactly a member of the business community, I would say that almost everything you see here is endorsed by the business community. The way we have solved these problems that we’ve had and will continue to have is getting everybody together and doing the best that we can.”
Bryant said that no one wants bad police officers, and everybody wants good ones.
“[Atlanta] is the 10th largest economy in the United States,” Bryant said. “It’s not about Black or White. It’s not about red or blue. It’s about green. It’s about economics. You cannot have a prosperous city that has an out-of-control city. That’s a crime-ridden city.
“No one wants criminals. No one wants crime. No one wants their mother or their grandmother beat up or even scared to walk in your city. … We say we support our mayor. We say that we want a police training center so we have well-trained police.”
