No New “Cop City” For The El Paso Police Department

A new regional command center for EPPD on the east side will be just that, a command center. Not another "Cop City" as an activist in Atlanta recently claimed.

Activist Renee Johnston just released a list of 70 "Cop Cities" and included a new facility being built for the El Paso Police Department. After all kinds of searches, I couldn't find the actual list though there are tons of references to it all over the internet.

The new EPPD building is huge, has a lot of different features and departments, including detention areas, a gym and vehicle maintenance bays, but it's not a training facility.

What Is A "Cop City"?

The term “cop city” arose as a nickname given by protesters to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a proposed law enforcement training facility under construction.

Atlanta’s facility cost $90 million, sits on 85 acres and includes multiple training facilities such as a mock city for burn building training, a vehicle training course and urban police training facilities, according to the center’s website. - El Paso Matters

The "Cop City" described above is being built in Atlanta and stopcopcity says it's "a war base where police will learn military-like maneuvers to kill black people and control our bodies and movements".

Where Do El Paso Police Officers Train?

The only training facility used by the El Paso Police Department is located on Scenic Drive. It takes almost a year, 43 weeks, to complete EPPD training at the academy.

According to El Paso Matters, the Mission Valley Regional Command Center set the city back almost $40 million dollars, paid for by a bond approved in 2019, and is set to open in June.