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‘For the good of Atlanta’: Inside the city’s new public safety training center

The center offers specialized spaces such as a fire tower, a driving course, a shooting range and simulation areas for active shooter and medical response drills

ATLANTA, Ga. — Officials opened the doors of the new Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, offering the public its first glimpse of the new training facility for police and fire personnel, Atlanta News First reported.

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The center, which was showcased to members of the media and the public on Dec. 17, is set to begin operations in early 2025, according to the report. The facility was created to address long-standing needs for updated training resources, offering specialized spaces such as a fire tower, a driving course, a shooting range and simulation areas for active shooter and medical response drills.

Additional amenities include new kennels and stables for K-9 and mounted units, as well as areas for mental wellbeing and sensitivity training, according to the report.

“This is a legacy public safety milestone…” said Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum, highlighting how the center will allow personnel to train locally rather than traveling to the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth County. “This is truly Atlanta’s public safety training center... we’re using the space for the good of Atlanta.”

The facility includes spaces designed for community engagement, such as classroom areas for public use and a mile-long walking trail, which will open alongside the center next month, according to the report.

“Those that this facility is in their backyard and this sort of matters to them, completely, they have been involved in this project and its planning since day one,” said Marshall Freeman, chief administrative officer with Atlanta Police. “We’re very proud of this space.”

The announcement and building of the center has been met with protests and even with violence and arson, according to the report. Protesters cited negative environmental impacts and “police militarization” as reasons for the pushback.

“We took for granted what the citizens of our city understood what was being created here and why,” said Schierbaum. “If you visit any location in our city where an emergency could happen, you’re going to want that individual that showed up... to know what to do.”