City of Atlanta to create task force for additional land near public safety training center

After months of controversy and protest over Atlanta’s public safety training center, including an incident involving a Molotov cocktail, Mayor Andre Dickens announced his plans to create a task force to figure out how to best use the land.

Channel 2 Action News learned a lot of the land will be used to train police and firefighters, but the task force will look at how to use the green space.

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The mayor’s team told Channel 2 Action News the task force will be loaded with experts who will get ideas from neighbors.

“If people have ideas, they will be able to go to this task force and say I have thoughts about what a good park would look like in this area,” Bryan Thomas with the City of Atlanta said.

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According to the mayor’s office, the task force is supposed to be set up in April 2023.

In early February, police, GBI agents, construction crews and more were seen making their way into the proposed site of an Atlanta police training facility in DeKalb County.

Channel 2 Action News crews were on the scene when SWAT teams, as well as police from Atlanta and DeKalb County game wardens were at the facility site.

Construction crews were also on the scene moving their equipment into the area.

In January, a Georgia State Patrol trooper was shot by one of the protesters, Manuel Teran, while authorities were removing protesters who had been living in the forest. Teran was killed by return fire.

Fellow protesters have continually claimed since Teran’s death that they are peaceful.

Days after Teran’s death, a peaceful protest in the streets of downtown Atlanta turned violent when a police car was set on fire and windows to businesses were smashed.

Since December, 13 people have been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism related to the training facility.

The proposed facility would take up an 85-acre plot off Key Road in the largest urban forest in metro Atlanta.

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