ATLANTA — After years of opposition and protests slowing down construction, the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center has officially opened.
Gov. Brian Kemp, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Police Chief Darin Schierbaum and other leaders gathered at the center on Tuesday morning for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln was among more than 1,000 people at the ceremony.
“This thing is state of the art, and it is for the people of Atlanta,” Dickens said.
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The $118 million facility will house training for police officers and firefighters.
Both Dickens and Schierbaum say getting to this point was a measure of faith after the property was the target of many violent protests.
“We saw through all the chaos to get to this end goal,” Dickens said.
Since police recruits started training at the new Atlanta Public Safety Training Facility last year, Schierbaum says they’ve seen recruit number grow significantly. He says classes have grown from just six classes a year to now monthly.
“From this month to September, we’re going to start a class every month, and we’re going to see if we can add to that,” Schierbaum said.
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Protests against the center began in January 2023 when protester Manuel Teran was shot and killed by a Georgia State Patrol trooper while they were clearing the forest of those occupying it.
Teran fired a gun at troopers from inside a tent and a trooper was hit in the torso. Troopers fired back and killed Teran.
More protests focused on the training center, the clearing of a forest to build it and Teran’s death. Those protests led to dozens of arrests and more than 60 people being indicted in a RICO case. Some of them were also charged with domestic terrorism and others with money laundering.
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