Protesters are upping the ante in their opposition to Johns Hopkins University's private police force by rallying in front of Baltimore’s City Hall. Demands to disband the Johns Hopkins Police Department (JHPD) are intensifying, with the Baltimore Abolition Movement (BAM) leading the charge. BAM has garnered over a thousand signatures on a petition, pushing for the Baltimore City Council to conduct a hearing and entirely do away with the private police force.
According to BAM, the existence of an armed JHPD was realized without the community's approval, a stance supported by Meg Chow, an organizer with the Baltimore Abolition Movement, who told CBS News Baltimore, "We feel that a police force, particularly a private police force, which is only accountable to the administrative board at Johns Hopkins, is not an accountable force that is actually meant to keep students, community members, and neighbors of Hopkins safe." BAM also believes that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Baltimore Police Department and JHPD - which legally permits the campus to foster such a force - should be terminated.
Despite the outcry, JHPD, with a current staff of 24 sworn officers and three additional members, remains active and is authorized to employ up to 100 individuals. JHU police records reveal that in recent months, the force has predominantly tackled incidents of theft, burglary, and a handful of assaults. Notably, officers nabbed a suspect involved in a severe offense on the university campus, detaining a 31-year-old man on charges related to an attempted rape near the Quad and Clark Hall.
The formation of the Johns Hopkins University Police Department in 2024 followed a law passed five years earlier, granting the institution the authority to establish its own armed private force. Despite a hiatus in 2020 amidst national tumult over police conduct, the university pressed forward, incorporating the feedback from a 60-day public commenting period into its final procedures.
Meanwhile, details of the protest and the petition delivered by the Baltimore Abolition Movement were also briefly outlined by WBAL, noting that the group's act of defiance signals an acute discontent with what they perceive as the overreach of private policing within an academic institution. The movement is set to proceed, as community members anticipate the city council's response to their rallying cry for change.
