#Nonprofit donating $2M to Atlanta Police Department to raise morale

Every officer with the Atlanta Police Department will get a $500 bonus from a nonprofit foundation looking to boost morale among the force, officials announced Thursday.

The Atlanta Police Foundation’s $2 million donation to the department comes after an unusually high number of officers called out of work on Wednesday evening — the day charges were announced for two officers involved in the killing of Rayshard Brooks.

“In an effort to stem attrition and boost morale, we issued a $500 bonus to each Atlanta Police Department officer today,” the nonprofit said in a statement to WAGA-TV.

The cash influx is meant as a thank you for the long hours cops have been pulling over the last three months, amid the coronavirus crisis and protests against police brutality and racial inequality, the foundation said.

No city funds will be used to pay for the bonuses. And the foundation will also be purchasing 20 police cars to replace those that were destroyed in protests a few weeks ago, according to WSB-TV, which first reported the donation.

Cops are expected to pocket the bonuses on Friday, but one officer told CNN: “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“This is the first time anything like this has been done and the foundation are good people as well, but it’s for APD only and it’s definitely about morale,” the cop added.

Atlanta Police said on Wednesday evening that it saw “a higher than usual number of call-outs” after Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced felony murder charges against ex-officer Garrett Rolfe.

Rolfe, 27, was fired Saturday after shooting Brooks twice in the back during a scuffle outside a Wendy’s restaurant last week.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told CNN on Wednesday that the force’s morale “is down tenfold.”

“This has been a very tough few weeks in Atlanta and with the tragedy of Mr. Brooks … there’s a lot happening in our city, and the police officers are receiving the brunt of it quite frankly.”