The city of Minneapolis is building its own version of Cop City.
Federal agents killed two U.S. citizens during Operation Metro Surge. They violated over two hundred court orders. Local police assisted with thousands of overtime hours. They filed zero charges against any federal agent. Weeks later the city announced the purchase at one four six West Sixtieth Street in Windom. Six million for the land. Total project cost thirty eight million. (City of Minneapolis capital budget documents February 2026)
This facility sits on four point seven acres. It will house an indoor shooting range relocated from the Fourth Precinct. Defensive tactics rooms with padded walls for hand to hand drills. Scenario based training areas using movable partitions. Virtual reality simulators for arrest scenarios. Investigation drills. Raid practice. Vehicular training zones for pursuit and containment exercises. Canine facilities. Classrooms dedicated to multi agency coordination between police. Fire. Behavioral crisis teams. Emergency management. Wellness suites for officer counseling and debriefs.
City documents label it compliance with the twenty twenty three Minnesota Department of Human Rights settlement. They say it meets requirements for improved training infrastructure after findings of systemic discriminatory policing. (MDHR settlement agreement) Council Member Robin Wonsley moved to cut five point five million in the budget vote. She argued the mayor bypassed council authority. The amendment passed. The project stayed on track. (Minnesota Reformer)
The lengths they will go to create these cop cities knows no bounds.
Atlanta opened the exact same blueprint first. Atlanta Public Safety Training Center opened in April twenty twenty five. Opponents branded it Cop City. Eighty five acres. One hundred fifteen million dollars. Full mock city blocks. Apartment buildings. Convenience store. Commercial structures for practicing barricaded gunman raids. Hostage rescues. Drug operation takedowns. Six story burn building. High speed pursuit driving course. Dedicated shooting range. K nine kennels. Horse stables. (Atlanta Public Safety Training Center project specs)
Both projects follow the identical blueprint. Advanced firearms ranges for live fire training. Tactical scenario villages and simulators for urban operations inside residential areas. Multi agency coordination spaces to practice joint raids and responses. Significant public money poured into militarized practice infrastructure.
The sequence matches exactly. Atlanta came after waves of protest and police killings. Minneapolis follows federal agents killing Renee Good and Alex Pretti with zero local accountability. In both cities the response to crisis and public criticism has been the same. Build the training complex. Upgrade the capacity to operate inside communities with sharper tactics.
Assassinated in cold blood’: activist killed protesting Georgia’s ‘Cop City’ | Georgia | The Guardian
They killed Tortuguita to clear the land.
Manuel Esteban Paez Terán. Queer Indigenous Venezuelan American forest defender. Known to everyone as Tortuguita. Twenty six years old. Shot fourteen times while seated cross legged with hands raised. Exit wounds through both palms. No gunpowder residue on the hands. Independent autopsy confirmed it. (The Guardian January 2023 independent autopsy) Body camera audio caught officers asking if their own trooper took friendly fire. No footage of the exact moment. No officers charged. Georgia Bureau of Investigation restricted family access to evidence. Construction pushed forward anyway. Facility opened on schedule. (Atlanta court filings and family statements)
Minneapolis wraps the project in wellness language and court compliance language. Atlanta stayed blunt about the tactical focus. The teeth remain identical. Local police refused to charge federal agents who killed citizens and broke court orders. The city answered by handing them a modern gun range. Raid training center. Pursuit course.
This is the model spreading city by city. Atlanta proved the template works. Land secured. Activists cleared. One death paid in full. Facility opened on schedule. Other cities watched and copied the exact plan. Minneapolis now executes the next iteration. Smaller footprint. Softer branding. Same core function. The lengths they will go knows no bounds.
The thirty eight million dollar line item does not lie.
Watch the final design documents. How much mock urban environment they actually construct. How the gun range integrates with raid simulators. Who writes the curriculum. Whether de escalation modules stay as window dressing while tactical raid practice expands.
The federal surge exposed the fracture. This training center is the repair. It makes local forces sharper at the same work.
The record is clear. Zero charges. Thirty eight million for the range. Blueprint confirmed.
Sources:
Minneapolis / Operation Metro Surge
Minneapolis Training Facility
https://www.minneapolismn.gov/news/2026/february/wellness-center/
https://stories.opengov.com/minneapolismn/published/iIPiMMg95g
https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2025/12/minneapolis-city-council-approves-2b-budget/
Atlanta Cop City
