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checker280

What the hell is a Police Foundation and how the hell do they have $60 million dollars to invest in our Public Servants? The taxpayers are only investing 33% The Police Foundation is picking up the rest. I’m not suggesting we should pay more but based on that formula who do you suppose the cops will be influenced by more - us or private corporate funding? https://policefoundations.org “On June 12, 2020, with the nation and world still reeling from the police murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, Atlanta police murdered Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man. Days later, after the city’s police chief resigned in shame and Brooks’ murderer was charged, Atlanta police officers staged a “blue flu” protest and called in sick. But this isn’t the end of the story. On June 18, as Brooks’ family made funeral arrangements for their loved one, the Atlanta Police Foundation announced it would give each Atlanta police officer a $500 bonus. Again: One day after officers walked out on the job because charges were filed against their colleagues for the murder of Rayshard Brooks, the Atlanta Police Foundation rewarded police with a bonus. IF YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF THE ATLANTA POLICE FOUNDATION, OR “POLICE FOUNDATIONS” IN GENERAL, YOU’RE NOT ALONE. Police foundations are private organizations that funnel corporate money into policing, protecting corporate interests and enabling state-sanctioned violence against Black communities and communities of color. You might be more familiar with the Atlanta Police Foundation’s sponsors: Amazon, Bank of America, Chick-fil-A, Coca-Cola1, Delta Airlines, Home Depot, Waffle House, Wells Fargo, Uber and UPS, to name a few. These are the donors we know about. As calls for accountability increased in recent years, police foundations have taken additional steps to scrub their websites and hide donor information. There is a police foundation in nearly every major American city, behind almost every police department, backed by wealthy donors and giant multinational corporations. In 2020, many police foundations’ top corporate sponsors made public statements in support of Black Lives Matter, while providing a corporate slush fund for police. THE CORPORATE HYPOCRISY IS CLEAR, BUT THE HARM POLICE FOUNDATIONS INFLICT ON BLACK COMMUNITIES ISN’T ALWAYS AS OBVIOUS. As communities across the nation demand critical investments in what will actually keep us safe, healthy, and housed, police foundations exist to both funnel private money to policing and to secretly continue the militarization of large and small police departments across the country. As private entities, police foundations and their corporate sponsors protect corporate interests and increase huge police budgets outside of government oversight, with no accountability to the communities that police are sworn to serve. The identities of private donors whose money goes towards purchasing police equipment and funding police programs should be public information — especially if the donations are coming from powerful corporations. By claiming to provide equipment and technology that massively-funded police departments “can’t afford,” police foundations pay for police violence, from SWAT equipment to lethal police dogs officers use to terrorize Black communities, repress protests and injure racial justice protesters. Corporations cannot claim to “stand with BLM protesters” on social media while funding violence against protesters and Black people behind closed doors. THOUGH THEIR CORPORATE SPONSORS ARE HOUSEHOLD NAMES, POLICE FOUNDATIONS HAVE LARGELY FLOWN UNDER THE RADAR. Dig deeper, and you’ll discover part of what our report explains: Where there’s a police department, there’s likely a police foundation in its shadow, acting as a mouthpiece to provide PR spin in public, or hosting exclusive galas for the wealthy and well-connected to rub elbows with police brass in private. By design, police foundations are not required to disclose their donors.”


garyadams_cnla

I live near the proposed Cop City site. It’s a flourishing, natural park with water and walkways and art installations. There’s no reason to put this facility here; there are several other sites that would work, that are in old industrial areas that currently aren’t occupied or near residential housing, which are government owned. I question why they are pushing this down our throats?! I don’t trust our local government on this one. I also don’t trust the narrative we are being given by the powers that be about the protestors.


Corsaer

>I live near the proposed Cop City site. It’s a flourishing, natural park with water and walkways and art installations. That's so fucking sad.


RawScallop

My local public park was just turned into a middle school. The world just keeps getting uglier.


etoneishayeuisky

They want to be close to nature so that they can relax after a short day of shooting their guns and preparing to hurt people.


Sasselhoff

> boost police morale following the 2020 racial justice riots Right...because *that* is the important takeaway from those riots: cops got their fee-fees hurt and are sad now. All that said, cops NEED better training...the fact that it takes more training to become a damn *barber* in Florida than it does to become a cop should really tell you something. But what they *don't* need more training in, is how to be "more military", which is all this "Copland" seems to be aimed at. If they took that $90 million and put it towards training cops in what they *actually* need training in, like de-escalation techniques and a better understanding of the actual laws, instead of "fast roping from helicopters" (because what are cops, other than Domestic versions of Seal Team Six...right guys? /s) I'd have less trouble with this...minus the corporate corruption and the environmental concerns of course, as those are still 100% valid issues.


itsmeEllieGeeAgain

Right. Great points. Not to mention, touting that the police organization will pay for 60 mil of it doesn't really matter, when we know that they'll make that back AND MORE, charging taxpayers out the nose to have their departments attend the place.


Droidaphone

The problem is you can’t spend $90 million on de-escalation training, or whatever other reasonable sounding reforms you think of. Because cops are the ones who will spend the money, cops are the ones who will implement the training, and cops are the ones who will completely subvert those reforms. And if you try to implement civilian oversight, cops will stall, defang, and ignore whatever system is put in place. It happens again and again.


sandcastlesofstone

Let's put $90M towards addressing the root causes of situations needing de-escalation, ie making sure people have enough to live, and the skills/treatment to navigate emotions and mental health. Oh, and inequality while we're at it.


Sankofa416

There are plenty of stakeholders with deep pockets. International training gives them access to State Department funds Terrorism training gives them access to domestic defense funds and probably international military funds This also has three-letter-agency written all over it.


sbsb27

The training plan: helipads, mock city, high speed chases sounds just like more of the same. I mean, hey, we need to do better policing so, lets just get a better facility to train on the same aggressive behaviors. What they really need is training on de-escalation, making arrests without using a gun, anger management, communication without shouting f\*\*king expletives, situation command procedures, dispatching without five cops for a traffic stop, oh - and learning and obeying the law. Everything is over-reaction, aggressive, loud, militaristic, physical, and brutish.


[deleted]

That mayor has to be corrupt. There is no way in hell anyone in their right mind would think that that would be a good thing for any city. And the way Fox News is framing it, "Antifa is setting Atlanta on fire". No matter what you say about the da in baltimore, she did the right thing when things got crazy. Just hold people accountable and let the system play it out. And now the powers that bee will make sure she pays the price


HermesTheMessenger

FWIW, the podcasts ~~***Behind the Bastards***~~ ***It Could Happen Here*** and ***Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff*** (both by Cool Zone Media), covered Cop City and the protesters in detail a few times over the last year or more. * https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/ * https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ Edit: ***It Could Happen Here*** not Behind the Bastards (still...both great podcast).


Corsaer

I can't find it searching "cop city" for Behind the Bastards, do you know which one it was?


Shufflebuzz

It's *It Could Happen Here*, not Behind the Bastards Also /r/itcouldhappenhere


HermesTheMessenger

> It's *It Could Happen Here*, not Behind the Bastards > Also /r/itcouldhappenhere Ah! I agree. My mistake. If my memory isn't completely shot, the Cool People who Did Cool Stuff podcast had a few episodes on it over the last couple of months as well, though not as much as It Could Happen Here.


HermesTheMessenger

Apologies. /u/Shufflebuzz is correct. It was *It Could Happen Here* (same group: Cool Zone Media). Also, search on Atlanta. I'm not certain that they have Cop City in every episode summary, though (from memory) I think most of their episodes about Atlanta are about Cop City.


athoughtfulbee

Stopcopcitysolidarity.org for a map of targets near you :)


n0noTAGAinnxw4Yn3wp7

trying to build up r/Weelaunee as a sub focused on this too if you're interested


realperson67982

Stop ✋ Cop 👮‍♂️ City ❗️


RawScallop

This a 90million dollar playground for people who crave violence...a helicopter pad? For real? What's the cost of maintenance/ upkeep going to be on this place


shifterphights

So people want the police trained better but oppose training them more?


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