Authorities are investigating whether a group of activists determined to halt the construction of Atlanta’s police and fire training center is responsible for a recent spate of incidents including vandalizing offices, destroying equipment and threatening contractors.
“Certainly people are looking at that angle,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said Monday.
Activists opposed to the $90 million facility planned on 85 acres just outside city limits in DeKalb County have camped out on the site in recent months. Tensions between activists and police boiled over in May when officers tried to remove them. Seven people were arrested after Atlanta police said rocks and two Molotov cocktails were thrown at officers.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
One of the suspects lives in Gainesville. The other six are from out-of-state, according to police.
Vandals have struck the offices of Brasfield & Gorrie, the general contractor chosen to build the facility, and a suspicious fire at a youth center for at-risk teens may also be related to the protest movement, officials say.
“Brasfield & Gorrie employees and offices have been the target of criminal acts of vandalism and harassment during demonstrations against the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center,” a company spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “Activists crossed the boundary of peaceful protest into unlawful activity involving significant property destruction and harassment.”
Not only were the company’s Alabama and Cobb County offices recently vandalized, but employees and their families have been targeted at their homes, at church and in online attacks, the statement said.
“We are working with law enforcement to hold accountable those who are responsible for these acts,” the spokesperson wrote.
On May 13, surveillance footage captured three people vandalizing Brasfield’s Birmingham office, causing an estimated $80,000 in damage.
Suspects clad in black face coverings and white jumpsuits shattered windows and painted “Drop Cop City or Else,” on the building, according to a social media post from Crime Stoppers Atlanta. A day earlier, several people were charged after the company’s Cobb County office was vandalized, according to arrest warrants.
Credit: Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta
Credit: Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta
Cobb police were called to the Cumberland office in the middle of the day after responding to “a violent disturbance of the peace.”
Police said the group ignited Roman candles in front of the building, causing the grass to catch fire, and shattered windows with “hand-thrown paint bombs.” They also spray-painted “No Forest No Peace,” “Stop Cop City” and “Trees Not Cops,” warrants state.
Credit: Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta
Credit: Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta
Activists calling themselves “forest defenders” have camped in the woods, aimed at keeping city officials from building the training center on what was once home to the Atlanta prison farm. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens noted the majority of those charged in last month’s incident aren’t from the area.
“Some of those individuals found themselves in handcuffs because they were breaking the law,” he said.
City leaders say the new center is vital to their efforts to attract and retain officers after years of training recruits in substandard facilities.
Interim police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Monday that activists can no longer camp out on the property, and that anyone told to leave the site will be arrested if they return.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
“Our focus is on ensuring that no illegal structures are built,” he said, noting structures assembled by activists have been removed. “Anytime we encounter someone who is there illegally and they’ve been previously warned, they will be arrested.”
He said the Atlanta police department has the support of both the FBI and GBI.
“Anyone that is trying to stop and prevent a first-class public safety training center will be held accountable,” Schierbaum said. “It doesn’t matter what type of crime they’re committing or where they’re committing it.”
A blog detailing recent actions of protesters notes the destruction of construction equipment and the placing of flyers on cars outside a Brasfield executive’s Atlanta church during a Sunday service. The flyers appeared to include a photo of the executive along with the names of their spouse and children.
On the blog, the group also took credit for the recent overnight fire that damaged the At-Promise Center in northwest Atlanta. Additional companies associated with the training center’s construction have also been targeted.
Atlanta City Councilman Byron Amos, whose district includes the damaged youth center, said some of the recent acts could be considered terrorism.
The facility was shut down last week after Molotov cocktails were thrown inside the building, causing a small fire in the youth center’s office, officials said.
“It’s unfortunate,” said Amos, who supports the new training facility. “The At-Promise Center is there to help the community.”
Located off Key Road in DeKalb, the new training facility is being funded by a mix of private and public dollars involving the Atlanta Police Foundation and the city’s philanthropic community.
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