A Johns Hopkins faculty committee held a public virtual hearing on Monday night where they called for the Baltimore City Council to hold a hearing on the private JHU police force. Dozens of community members logged on.
The university plans for officers to begin training in the late summer and fall, afterwards they’ll begin patrolling in a “limited capacity.”
In 2019, the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill that would allow the university to form its own police department. The controversial measure has been met with protests at every turn, including a month-long sit-in that took over the university’s Garland Hall.
The law allows Hopkins police to patrol JHU areas that are “owned, leased, or operated by, or under the control of Johns Hopkins University.” A memorandum of understanding with the Baltimore Police Department defines that as the university’s main Homewood campus, the East Baltimore campus, and Peabody campus in Mount Vernon. Also under jurisdiction of the private JHU force is “the public property that is immediately adjacent to the campus, including: (i) a sidewalk, a street, or any other thoroughfare; and (ii) a parking facility.”
