DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center has limited training operations underway ahead of a phased in rollout of the full planned training courses.
The Atlanta Police Department told Channel 2 Action News that the only activities happening at the facility currently involve exterior-only training.
Chata Spikes, the APD Executive Director of Public Affairs, said they are not conducting trainings inside the facility at the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. The buildings remain unoccupied and no activities are happening inside the buildings.
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Spikes told Channel 2 Action News that the units conducting training on-site are the Drone Unit, Special Response Unit and the Motors Unit and activities are exterior only.
She said training is planned to be phased in at a later date. In December, Channel 2 Action News got a first look at the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, seeing how the facility will operate when construction is complete and training begins.
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The facility also includes a horse stable, kennel, fire tower, community trail and a state-of-the-art classroom.
“It has everything you think a fire and police training center will have -- fire, police tactics rooms, defense training rooms. We want our firearms to be the very last option that we use in any situation,” Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum told Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln at the time.
In December, Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith told Lincoln that firefighters are currently having to train in Douglasville just to use a fire tower. The newly built tower on site is one of only two designs in the nation.
Channel 2 Action News has previously reported on how protesters have contributed to millions in damages from protests against the facility.
The debate over the training center embroiled the city and captured national attention, especially after state troopers fatally shot activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, also known as Tortuguita, who was protesting near the project in January 2023.
Those who are against having the facility say it will make the militarization of the city’s police force worse and worry about its effects on minority neighborhoods nearby.
City leaders told Channel 2 Action News previously that the location of every building on the property was decided with the consideration of a group of stakeholders from dozens of nearby communities.
Atlanta police said in December that they will continue to have patrols and gated sections around the site to prevent future acts of vandalism.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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