ATLANTA — A community task force commissioned by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens released its recommendations to move forward on the city's controversial public safety training center.
The project, deemed by protesters as "Cop City," has been in the spotlight for months following a wave of action against it.
Leaders and law enforcement have said the center is necessary to keep the public safe. Meanwhile, protesters claim the project is a symbol of militarized policing and damaging the community's greenspace.
The task force is comprised of four subgroups that will provide an initial set of recommendations by July:
- Parks and green space
- Visioning, memorializing, and repurposing the former Atlanta Prison Farm site
- Sustainability and resilience
- Police, fire and E-911 training curriculum
For more on "Cop City" and the controversy surrounding the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, see here: What is 'Cop City'? Explaining the controversy around a future police training center in Atlanta
As for the list-- the task force released more than 100 recommendations were made. They include:
"I am deeply appreciative and thankful for their time and commitment to sticking to the charge for developing a vision and action plan around four major areas that will positively impact the forest and the new training center," the mayor said in a statement.
In a prepared statement, he added that this process shows that the city can have "an open and transparent engagement process with citizens to create community-driven" solutions.
Mayor Dickens said his team will review the recommendations over the next 30 days.
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