Stop Cop City – No More Militarized Police Training Facilities

We demand an immediate halt to federal funding and support for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center—known as "Cop City"—and all similar police training facilities nationwide. Cop City is militarization, not safety. This 85‑acre, $115‑million complex features mock urban warfare training, a shooting range, explosives facilities, and a Black Hawk helipad. It is explicitly modeled on Israeli Defense Forces training, and its corporate backers—including Koch Industries, Home Depot, Delta, and AIPAC donors—are profiting from a police state. The environmental cost is devastating. Construction has already cleared 381 acres of the Weelaunee Forest, a vital watershed for majority‑Black neighborhoods that mitigates flooding and extreme heat. This is environmental racism in action. Cop City is built on repression and blood. In January 2023, state troopers killed forest defender Tortuguita (Manuel Paez Terán), who was shot 13 times. The movement has faced mass arrests and racketeering charges. This is the same playbook used against Black, Muslim, unhoused, and immigrant communities nationwide—a pattern of police violence that disproportionately targets Black Americans. Black incarcerated people know the truth. As the Stop Cop City movement makes clear, "the state’s retreat from social welfare and the interrelated buildup of policing and imprisonment" is designed to manage inequality's outcomes, not solve them. Real safety comes from addressing root causes: poverty, disinvestment, lack of housing, healthcare, and education—not from urban warfare training. To those who say Cop City improves police training: Training in domination and violence increases civilian distrust. To those who say it's too late—it's already built: We must stop the next 80 Cop Cities being planned nationwide. This is a grassroots demand. Over 108,000 Atlantans signed petitions to stop Cop City. Voters are watching—and we will remember who stood with communities, not corporations.