Atlanta Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens, who has spearheaded a law-and-order campaign against the residents of Atlanta, inaugurated on April 29 the sprawling 85-acre militarized “public safety training center” popularly known as “Cop City.”

The sprawling complex will be used to train the state’s numerous police forces in urban warfare. Firing ranges, mock buildings and city streets have been constructed, providing police the “training” they need to violently raid people’s residences and to crush protests or rebellions the state and city authorities target. According to American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), “43% of the training at Cop City will be for officers outside of Atlanta, including military training with the infamous Israeli [sic] Defense Forces.”

Speaking before a select audience, which included arch-reactionary Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp and the CEO of the privately funded Atlanta Police Foundation (APF), Dave Wilkinson, Dickens triumphantly declared the building and opening of the police training center as a singular achievement of his three-year-old administration. Both Kemp and Dickens have worked in close coordination to unleash ferocious police violence against peaceful protesters by the state, city and county police forces.