2022-12-15 Public Safety Training Center Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee
11:00PM Dec 15, 2022
Speakers:
Keywords:
individuals
vehicle
atlanta police department
people
state
property
officers
federal partners
neighborhood
shawn
minutes
hear
narrative
arrested
question
house
sharon
domestic terrorism
training academy
charges
I'm always gonna go. Hey, Jacqueline. Hey, how you doing? Hey, I'll try to get my raspy voice going. I can tell you how I feel and it was hard work. It was fun. Yeah, it was fun all right advisory council did you see well, let me see your name oh alright everybody sorry I'm getting everybody on in here. One second
Hey Pat, good to see you.
Thank you Hello to everyone. Oh, hi. Nice
to see you.
Hey Pat. Hey Alison. How
are you?
I'm good. How are you?
I'm getting it. I'm getting there. Day by day. Hey, good to see everyone. Okay,
you look good. Yeah, hey, get in there.
Thanks. Thankful to still be here.
With a bright smile at that.
Oh, yeah, that's the only way to go.
Hey, in fact, I do want to I want to actually connect with you offline. So tomorrow if you're around during the day,
I'll give you a shout. Okay.
Along I know we have quorum. We have quorum, Madam Chair.
That is wonderful. Give me just a minute to get us rollin and we'll go through it. Marsha, you all done moving everybody over.
Your mute. Sorry, I was talking to myself. Give me one more sec. Okay.
found himself in front of judges. Exclusively video months ago, said Tuesday or
someone has the news out in the background.
I'll turn it off it was meant to be a buffer in case my kids get loud.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, that's all out today. Okay. That's fine. We'll let you guys hear the more natural sounds of my household All right,
Madam Chair. It looks like I have everybody in and
sorry, one more.
Yep, I've got everybody and until if anybody else comes I will announce them. Thank you.
That is perfect. All right. Do you have the recording going? recording in progress. There we go.
Perfect. All right. Well, thank you. And if you all I'm sorry.
Manager looks like I'm not sure if Shawn had his hand up intentionally or not, but his hand is raised.
Okay, Shawn, did you need some time before we get rolling? No, I was just laying out here. Welcome, got
it. Got it. Thank you.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Please bear with me as you probably have figured out by now. I don't have my full voice I had a little too much fun last night, so bear with me here. With that, it is 6:05pm We are officially underway. And so welcome to you all. I will go ahead and toss to miss Sharon Williams for our roll. Call.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Allison Clark.
I'm here and felt good. Yes. Can be an Philips just on here tonight. She's
Yeah. Thank you Dustin. helis. Dustin Hill this is so absent.
Patricia call. Here. Early Nichols.
Yeah. Tori Tucker. Tory Tucker's absent.
First chief deputy. First Deputy Chief James Macklemore. Thank you. I was Shawn at waters
waters. is also absent.
We do have quorum.
Thank you so much. That was quick and easy. Again, thank you all for being here this evening. We will jump right into our governance and take the adoption of the agenda and approval of minutes as a package deal if anyone is willing to make the motion.
The mode is to share.
Can we get a second?
Who don't have
Nicole? I just had one note on the minutes that said I was tardy last meeting in which I wasn't. I'm not it's totally fine. But
now we will make sure that is updated. I will make that that edit.
But otherwise I'm happy to approve.
I actually looked at that and meant to go back and pull that off of the minutes and so with the amendment that the minutes be altered to reflect Nicole as being on time to the meeting. Can I get a motion with that amendment please?
Yeah. Okay, I got Sharon and I'll take a second. Second. Thank you.
All right. And if there are any objections, please speak now. Raise your hand.
All right.
The agenda is adopted in the minutes are approved. And with that, we can move right into our security update chief tax. Oh, wow. So
great. So first of all, Happy Holidays everybody. And I just hope everybody's holidays is as wonderful as Alison and we all can come back course from yelling and celebrating.
Your friends when your friends have big moments, you gotta show up for them.
No, you're absolutely right. Alison, you're absolutely right. So jumping right into it. So we'll go back to Monday, December 5. We were on the property. We conducted an early morning operation out there really to just remove debris and spikes it had been placed in the ground so we routinely see spikes being placed in the ground in an effort to flatten the tires of any equipment we have out there. So we conducted I want to say 10 to 15 spikes out there. We weren't met with any resistance out there. That they however, that Wednesday, December 7 in the early morning hours were observed a couple of individuals come up to our flock camera that's at the gate and they did damage the flock cameras. And then later on that morning we had some individuals hiding in the woods and when one of our civilian employees at the range left arrange for vehicle was struck by rock and then we hit two other civilians leaving our gun range who had the vehicle struck by rods. So we did deploy resources out there we did not catch any individuals. However, we did find a tree house they had set up in the woods where they had a spotter who was up in a tree house in his cars left. He was calling them out to individuals so we were able to take that tree house down and that kind of mitigated that problem at that time. So based on that we did go back in the woods on Saturday, Last Saturday, December 10. And we went out there what public works just to remove debris from the area. We were out there maybe two hours we were met with a couple individuals who threw rocks at the officers and our public works workers. No one was injured and they did discharge a couple of fireworks. So then later on that night, Saturday night. Now while we have no proof of it, we're pretty sure they are the individuals that set fire to those two homes on the construction on both Bolduc breasts, you know unfortunately those homes had nothing to do with this project. And they were set on fire. So we put our drone up in the air on several occasions. After that, and what we discovered that we had four trees. We have four tree houses on our 85 acres, and they had been unoccupied. Have we determined that they had been occupied again? So that prompted the Atlanta Police Department along with our state and federal partners to go back out on that property. So on Tuesday, we went out on my 85 acres. We went to those four three houses one by one there was protesters occupying all four tree houses. We attempted to engage those individuals in dialogue for probably 35 to 40 minutes and they steadfastly refused to come down out of those tree houses. So I have to confirm it. I love apartment. We didn't use an irritant, which I'm sure you saw on social media. They were saying that we pepper sprayed him. It wasn't your to deploy up into the treehouse to make them uncomfortable for them calm down, and it was successful. So we were able to get all four of those individuals down out of that tree houses. So on that day, we ended up locking up six protesters. And so what we all know what those six protesters, none of them lived in a neighborhood. None of them lived in Atlanta, DeKalb County, none of them live in state of Georgia. We had one individual from South Carolina. We had an individual from California. We had an individual from Wisconsin, the ages of those six individuals who was 20 to 25 years old, that six males and one female that we arrested that day. And so that's just what we're dealing with out there. And so while we were out there, we did impound the vehicle and we had an individual who was out attempting to film officers so we were able to get him with the hands free law as he drove by family officers. So we were able to lock him up. So these charges were made by our federal state partners, the GBI and the cab County. And so one of the things we charged him with to include criminal trespass was domestic terrorism charges that we put on them. So going forward, that will that is one of the charges we'll be using. Because that's exactly what they are. None of those people live here. They do not have a vested interest in this property and we show that time and time again, was an individual from Los Angeles, California concerned about a training facility being built in the state of Georgia and that is why we consider that domestic terrorism. Now interesting enough, while we were out there on the property, arresting some of those individuals. We did have another group that went to one of the cab county fire stations and set off fireworks at that building. So based on that, that galvanized the cab county into action. So the following day, the cat went over there to their side of the property and they ended up locking up six individuals also the following day. So I'm in the past couple of days the Atlanta Police Department is with their state and federal partners and DeKalb County locked up 12 individuals. And this man will treehouse and so as we go into the holidays, we will still monitor that site and we will respond to any appropriate threats or any acts of violence out there on my 85 acres. We unfortunately we will have officers working throughout the holidays to a flute Christmas state to protect our property out there. So if I just encourage everyone, you ought to go back with that narrative that you know there were six individuals locked up. None of those individuals resided here in the state of Georgia. And I just think that just bolts to what we've been saying from day one. But these are professional protesters, nothing more. They don't have a vested interest in what we're doing out here. So if we can just drive that narrative home to your neighbors, to your friends, to news media, anyone that asks you just make sure we're driving that narrative home. And I see Sharon already has a hand race. So I'll take any questions at this time. Thank
you. Thank you very much for that Sharon.
So the six people that the cab arrested you also out of state.
Um, I'm just getting that information. I think most of them more. I haven't gotten the information because some of the ones they locked them. I don't think they had ID on them like when our guys didn't have ID and we just had to use our fingerprint scanners. To identify who they were. Typically when we arrest these individuals, they have no idea on them. So you know, we'll end up taking them to jail using our fingerprint scan and most of them have been arrested somewhere else in a different state for doing something nefarious or along the same lines of what they're doing
here. Thank you. Thank you, Amy. Hi,
I just want to say you know, I thank you guys for for getting out there and and protecting everybody and you know, putting yourselves at risk. I noticed the day before that there was a car parked on my street that I didn't recognize and it was weird because it was there. overnight. And I didn't see in it. My question is if we see strange vehicles parked around the neighborhood, do we need to be reporting that or what do we do in? Is that information that you guys need?
Absolutely, Amy, because I'll tell you what happens all the time. They park their vehicles aways off and they'll walk to where they want and because they keep all the information in that vehicle and they don't want that vehicle tied back to them. So you know, it's just a matter of undercover work or sometimes we identify the vehicles they came in and sometimes we didn't. So we may be identified a couple of vehicles these individuals came in because they do just what you said they will park it in your neighborhood. Try to blend in and simply walk away from that vehicle and walk back down those 85 acres. So yes, ma'am. If you see a vehicle in your neighborhood, that by all means call 911 So the police can check it out, especially if it has, you know out of state plates on it. Okay,
thank you. Shawn bang say Shawn, are you there?
I believe Shawn was having audio trouble. It looks like he had dropped back. He dropped off and then rejoin. So Shawn, I don't know if you can hear us but if you can't, we can't hear you. So I'm not sure if you can call it a local line. But if you can call on a local line then then you that will also work I can bring you over that way.
Okay, perfect. And Sharon, I'm going to circle back to you in just a second. I just wanted to make a quick comment this to say that I am so pleased to see the level of charge being domestic terrorism. Just because for those of us living here, this has been a bit of a nightmare to have this continue to go on and to feel as though there's no light at the end of the tunnel. And so seeing that, you know it's being taken seriously and that the concern for the community is as strong as it is, at the end of the day, no matter your perspective on the project, whether you're in favor of or oppose to, it's not fair to terrorize the surrounding communities as a part of your objection to a project. So with that, very thankful for the fact that you all are out there and for the level of charges that have been applied. That's all of my comments. So I will circle back Sharon The floor is yours shared with all of us, not just you
Yes, I know. I think ditto to everything you just said. You know, I was coming home from the airport. And while I was redirected, I was happy to see the show of force. And I so I have a two parter one. I just want to make sure no officers were hurt. Because I was told that there was a bomb or there was a lot of fireworks going on. So please tell me that no fire or safety were hurt.
No, no losses were hurt. And what happens is they're just using large fireworks that they're setting off over there and what happens is, you know they want people to call in the SAT heard a large explosion. There's a bomb out there you know that is the narrative they want to drive but at the end of the day, we're used to hearing it and they're just very large fireworks that you will normally hear around the Fourth of July. That is what it is. But again when we go out in those woods, we have a plethora of officers out there we have a security plan that we went over several days in advance. We work with our state and federal partners every day, you know, putting those plans into operation. So our main objective is every officer comes back out safe. So that means we let one or two individuals get away that run through the list and we'll do that because we know we can circle back and get them another day. But I thank you thank you. Thank you for your concern for officers that are out there sharing.
Thank you. The second part of my question is the the boulder crest community that Mr. Ray was building down the street from us unbelievable. Last that they had fires is well around the same time. Is this similar terrorist activities or do we not have evidence one way or the other?
The there are some department the fire department is working on that again. Can we prove they did it? No. Do we now they did it? Yeah. So what we're looking for is something that can pop back to them. And again, every time we lock up on these individuals, and to Amy's point we find one of their vehicles. We look for accelerant or anything that we can tie to a fire or a suspicious Blaze on that property.
Thank you.
Thank you for that. Shirley Nichols.
Thank you very much. I want to say that I totally agree with Allison's comment. And I was beginning to feel that we were just being sawed off with these people and I know that you are doing a lot of investigation, a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we don't know about. I do applaud you for the fact that I found that last night that they had arrested somebody was really pleased to know that that happened. Well thank you very much for all that you're doing.
No, you're quite welcome. And here's the thing, ma'am, we're doing this for you all out there. You all have to live in that neighborhood, as well as us building a training academy and it's just not fair that you all are suffering because the Atlanta Police Department is trying to build a top notch training academy out there on that property.
Thank you. Thank you for that.
Are there any additional questions or comments that come up? I see your hand is raised
as you say of a comment this morning. I was listening to one of the weightless radio stations. And I think the narrative needs to be focused on a little bit more from your department, because they were actually saying that they didn't see why it should be named a domestic terrorist. And they you know, and I wanted to call them but I said no, I need to stay away from this because what they were stating is that most of the time, it is not the police that's doing what's right. It is them that that's trying to keep the property from you know, being destroyed and that kind of thing. And so that was a discussion on one of our local radio stations this morning. And I don't know whether that narrative can be put out a little bit more in terms of why you all are doing what you're doing why you labeled them domestic terrorist. Is there any comment on that?
Yes, ma'am. Um, you know, we try not to get into a back and forth so we have a media comms between the Atlanta Police Department, the GBI and our federal partners. So what we're going to say, but what I'll tell you is what you just said was exactly right. You all can get on the radio house and can get on and explain to them the fear. You go through the threat of your home being burned down. And you all can articulate why it's domestic terrorism, because they're terrorizing your neighborhood over there. So it resonates coming from a person that lives there who has a vested interest in that community. Our narratives we try not to go tit for tat with these people. Because that's what they want to get into a war words. But, you know, Patricia, if you're standing in front of a camera saying, you know, I heard fireworks I thought it was an explosion in my neighborhood. Watch a house under construction burned to the ground. And I'm just afraid that my house is next. That resonates with the average citizen out there. Thanks. No, thank
you for that. Jacqueline rainy. I'm concerned about the people I mean, you as police officers and the other people coming out there you're saying people are throwing rocks at their cars and or any vehicle they don't know who these people are, that could end up killing somebody you know, that is so dangerous.
It is ma'am. Again, I you know, the old motto We stand in harm's way so you don't have to out much rather than throwing a rock at a police car and a police officer versus you driving that constitution and someone throwing a brick at you're wondering you're working off the road and giving her fortunately for us, they've actually had lookouts and they've actually been targeting police vehicles or vehicles that were coming from a firing range. And we really haven't had any civilian vehicle struck ma'am. That's good. To know. Anyway.
But I really feel for you guys. I hope all of you will be safe.
Yes, ma'am. And thank you so much. Um, you know, the support we get from this community is overwhelming. And it just, you know, galvanizes the troops when we take this message back, you know, myself and Marshall Freeman, we go back and we tell the troops that there are people that support the training academy there are people that want this training academy built and there are people that live in a neighborhood, not people from Wisconsin, California, South Carolina and New England, who are opposing it, right.
Good. Night, Hollis Turner.
Hi. I just want a quick comment and a quick question. The AJC reported on note on those incidents that you're talking about. They also talked about the domestic terrorism charges and they also included a little blurb on what domestic terrorism, what those laws state and why that they're there. My question is, I worked for the Feds for a while before I retired. And one of the things that came up sort of frequently during my last year so I was it nuclear incidents that have happened and people want it to come to the individual workers to find out about it. I understand what you're saying that you know, to the person that was talking about the Top radio, and that you could call in and say something about that about that. I was the things that I've been talked about or that I thought was that we were supposed to refer them to the public affairs department and not get into that kind of thing ourselves. I understand calling into a talk show and maybe not saying that we're part of this group, but it's my hearing you say that that's okay to do this. Well, you can you can,
you can have a public opinion, just like they have a public opinion that they're not doing anything wrong and the police are targeting them. Well, if you're asked you can refute that and say, No, I do think this is domestic terrorism because I'm living in this neighborhood. And I'm experiencing this terrorism that's going on over here. You're not claiming to be a subject matter expert. You're simply saying from a layman's person point of view. This is what I fear my house catching on fire from a firework that someone's shooting in that area because they want to agitate the police.
Okay, I understand.
Thank you very much. Are there any additional questions?
Did your child have one?
I think he does.
Neither, that's what he's saying. The baby translator
exactly the two year old has much to say but we none of us know what it is. Well, I appreciate all of those questions and comments. That came up and and again, appreciate the efforts that your team is putting in and hopefully things clear up soon. But I just wanted to say much appreciated. If there are no additional questions we can, I guess move on off of this topic. And as you all polish your hand. No,
I'm trying to take it out. Take my hand down.
I got you covered. No worries. Well, with that I will just say to you all. Thank you so very much for your service on this committee. I sent you all an email ahead of time because as you can tell typing is not my strong point today. But we will go ahead and move through our elections process via electronic ballot and then we will also send out a doodle tomorrow so that we can schedule our q1 meeting dates. Your Apple juices upstairs but you see my life. Apple juice requests. You'd like a motion to adjourn. I would I just wanted to wish everybody a happy holidays. I'll see you guys in 2023. But if I can get a motion to adjourn, we're out of here.
