In Atlanta, AI Surveillance Expands As Cop City Reshapes Black Communities |
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This story was originally published by Capital B and Counterstream Media for The AI issue of Peace & Riot.
When he drives through his neighborhood now, Brian Page passes rows of police cars and AI‑powered cameras that track nearly every movement.
For most of his life, Page, who goes by “Scapegoat Jones,” felt safest in the community that Atlanta officials have since flooded with officers and surveillance technology in the name of “public safety.” He bought a house six minutes from the one he grew up in in DeKalb County, is raising his daughter in the same majority‑Black neighborhood, and cherished the forest trail where his family used to jog and ride bikes.
Now, a massive police training complex and an expanding web of surveillance rise in its place, and it makes him feel watched, not protected.
The network, he said, “certainly feels like an invasion of privacy.”
The 41-year-old’s unease about the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, more commonly known as “Cop City,” is at the center of a much larger experiment.
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Built atop 85 acres of one of Atlanta’s last urban forests, the training center is now wired into what has become the most expansive surveillance network of any city in the U.S., part of more than 60,000 public and private cameras linked to law enforcement across the metro area.
For Black residents like Page, whose neighborhood deals with flooding, sewage problems, and extreme heat, the complex replaced a rare cooling green space with shooting ranges, mock city blocks, and a round‑the‑clock surveillance hub, deepening climate and health risks for nearby residents. At the same time, opponents warn that wiring the site into Atlanta’s vast camera and license-plate network will supercharge a pattern of digital tracking in Black neighborhoods.
“I hope that [the training center and surveillance system] doesn’t change the vibe of the people in that area,” Page said.
But, he has a feeling that it might. “Just knowing the history of this country [and] the history of profiling. I do have concerns and questions about how this AI [is being used],” he said. “I don’t trust them to have the information or collect it. I can’t understand the purpose of it.”
As Georgia-based surveillance companies market this model nationwide — and as other cities begin to revolt over its ties to immigration enforcement and protest policing — the debate in Atlanta is becoming increasingly important.
Training materials and tours of the site emphasize its mock city blocks wired with cameras, license‑plate readers, and real‑time crime‑center feeds, giving officers a controlled environment to practice using AI‑driven tools to track movement, monitor protests, and coordinate responses.
A 2025 mapping project estimated that Atlanta now has about 124 surveillance cameras for every 1,000 residents, which is higher than any city in the world outside of a handful in China. In recent years, the network has used artificial intelligence to flag “suspicious” vehicles and people movements in real time, even when no suspected crime has been committed.
Civil liberties groups warn that what gets rehearsed on those soundstages does not stay there. Atlanta police have already used social media monitoring and networked cameras against Cop City opponents, and researchers fear the facility will export that model to departments across the country.
The city of Atlanta did not respond to requests for comment from Capital B and Counterstream Media.
Residents said this model leaves them questioning whose futures are being sacrificed when the city is willing to trade environmental protection and privacy for artificial intelligence.
“The surveillance system, the environmental issues, and the gentrification of Atlanta go hand in hand,” said Atlanta community organizer Kamau Franklin. “The focus and money poured into........