ATLANTA – A controversial plan to remove homeless people from downtown Atlanta before the 2026 FIFA World Cup could lead to some arrests “solely to make the city look nice,” according to a Fulton County judge.
Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who co-chairs a justice board that seeks alternatives to incarceration in metro Atlanta, said he’s concerned the city’s plan to end homelessness in downtown and house hundreds of people by next summer could prompt encounters between police and unsheltered people, leading to arrests.
Any increase in the local jail population shouldconcern “everyone in the criminal justice system,” because it would tax resources and expose people to an unhealthy, unsafe environment,McBurney told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution…