Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum has rejected calls to stop putting police officers on guard at the construction site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which has been targeted by multiple domestic terrorist attacks by opponents of the facility who call it “Cop City.”
Chief Darin Schierbaum told the Atlanta City Council Public Safety Committee he cannot yet stop protecting the area with police officers.
“There are those who want to harm my officers,” Schierbaum stated, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
He was referring to the months of violent demonstrations by protestors of the facility who say the site should be preserved for environmental and historic reasons, according to the report.
Violent protestors had recently, under the guise of going to a nearby concert, made their way to the site and set equipment on fire and threw makeshift explosives at officers.
There was also recently a violent ambush on police officers, and protestors have hidden “life-threatening” booby traps around the construction area targeting police officers.
Atlanta City Council member Antonio Lewis worries that the redeployment of officers is hurting neighborhood crime fighting and the morale of officers who are spending twelve hours a day doing nothing but standing guard.
“I want to get officers off a Key Road as much as you do councilman,” Schierbaum said. “And as soon as the threat goes away, we will be able to do that.”
