Hopkins police force bill will not move forward

Johns Hopkins University’s proposal to create a police force for its Baltimore university and hospital campuses will not be moving forward in the General Assembly after receiving significant community opposition.

Del. Curt Anderson, D-Baltimore City, supported the legislation, but he tweeted Friday morning that the bill authorizing the university to create a police department would not advance.

“After listening to the concerns of Johns Hopkins students and community folk we have halted legislative deliberations on their police bill,” he wrote.

Hopkins wants to create a police department modeled after private departments at similar private universities like the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California.

The police force is needed because of the rise in crime and the perception of crime in the areas surrounding Hopkins’ campuses, leaders told a House of Delegates committee last week.

In a letter to the Hopkins community, the university’s leaders said they agreed with the decision to take more time to study the measure, but that they remained committed to securing the campus.

“We and the state legislature have decided that legislation to establish a university police department at Johns Hopkins requires further consideration and should be moved to an interim study rather than acted upon this year,” Ronald J. Daniels, the university’s president, and Paul B. Rothman, the dean of the medical faculty, wrote. “We believe this decision will help inform our response to rising crime and other security threats and allow us to continue important conversations about building a sworn police force that models the best in constitutional, community-based policing.”

Johns Hopkins already spends about $50 million and employs more than 1,000 security guards on and around its campuses, numbers that have increased over the past three years as crime in Baltimore has escalated.

Lawmakers and student groups at last week’s hearing were skeptical about providing the private university with full police powers.

“How do you decide to start giving a private entity the full powers of policing in Maryland, and where do you draw the line?” Del. David Moon, D-Montgomery, asked.