Atlanta council votes 8-7 to sell city jail to Fulton County for $68 million
The narrow vote lets Mayor Andre Dickens negotiate the sale of the Atlanta City Detention Center to Fulton County, which faces federal oversight at its Rice Street jail.
Atlanta & Georgia
News from Atlanta and Georgia on public safety, policing, city politics and the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
What is the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, and why do activists call it ‘Cop City’?
Atlanta’s $117 million police and fire training campus opened in 2025. What it is, where it is, what it cost, who trains there and why opponents named it Cop City.
‘No robots with guns’: Atlanta council member moves to ban autonomous weapons
Liliana Bakhtiari’s H.A.L.T. Act would bar Atlanta from buying or using weaponized autonomous systems, drones and robots. A council committee backed it unanimously.
Cop City Atlanta update: Where the training center, court cases and lawsuits stand in 2026
Atlanta’s $117 million training center is in its second year. The state’s racketeering case is on appeal, the Tortuguita lawsuit was dismissed and the referendum effort lost in court.
A 7-Story Burn Tower, Donated Rail Cars and a Mock Gas Station: Inside the Training Center Critics Called ‘Cop City’
A year after it opened, the facility once known mainly for protests is training hundreds of police and fire recruits. What happens there day to day, what officials say it has achieved, and why critics remain unconvinced.
When Did Stop Cop City Started – When & What Started The Moment?
The movement against Atlanta’s public safety training center began with a 2021 land lease and grew into one of the longest-running protest campaigns in the country. A timeline of how it started.
Can Urban Planning and Environmental Protection Go Hand in Hand with Public Safety?
Cities have long treated tree cover and public safety as competing goals. Planners and researchers increasingly argue the two can be designed to work together.
What the Opening of Cop City Means—and Why Opposition Isn’t Over Yet
Atlanta’s public safety training center opened in 2025 after years of protests. What its opening changes for the city, and why opponents say the fight is not finished.
How South River Forest Became a Battleground: Inside The Origins of Stop Cop City
Long before the protests, the South River Forest was a former prison farm and a rare stretch of green space in southeast Atlanta. How it became the center of a national fight.
Stop Cop City Protester Killed – Stop Atlanta Public Safety Training Center
In January 2023, environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as Tortuguita, was shot and killed by Georgia state troopers during a raid on the forest encampment. What happened and what followed.