Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Vice President for Public Safety and Chief of Police Branville G. Bard Jr. announced the final policies and procedures of the Johns Hopkins Police Department (JHPD) and introduced the officers who will lead the JHPD this fall in a school-wide email on Wednesday July 31.
Bard opened by thanking the community for its feedback, establishing that its commentary provided a voice to the University’s public safety interests. He attached a disposition report to the email which contained all community feedback and how it was addressed in the final policies.
“These policies set the bar high for the JHPD, elevating our mission to serve the community and providing transparency, focus, and a progressive, reform-minded approach to the training of our officers and the standards against which all JHPD conduct is evaluated,” Bard wrote.
He also attached an external report on the policy development and feedback process for the JHPD, prepared by consulting firm 21st Century Policing Solutions. The report includes a summary of how the draft policy manual was shared with Hopkins and the broader Baltimore community, as well as an overview of public feedback and its major themes.
“When we embarked on our policy development and feedback process, we were determined to engage our community early and often through an open, collaborative review process that would make our policies even better,” Bard wrote.
Bard described how the JHPD’s policies will be regularly reviewed and updated and encouraged the Hopkins community to share feedback via email to publicsafetyfeedback@jhu.edu or through the Johns Hopkins Public Safety (JHPS) feedback form.
The email also introduced two leaders of the JHPD: Deputy Chief Monique Brown and Captain Robert Reed, and detailed their experience with the police force in Baltimore.
Deputy Chief Brown was raised in Baltimore and served over 24 years with the Baltimore Police Department. She recently worked as a deputy commissioner of the Patrol and Community Policing Bureau, during which she emphasized an adherence to community partnerships and police reform. Captain Reed, another Baltimore native and a Hopkins alum, has worked as commander of the police force at Towson University and plans to strengthen public trust and faith in law enforcement through his work in the JHPD.
Bard then detailed what can be expected on campus this fall in light of the JHPD’s implementation.
“We are taking a phased approach to recruiting and training groups of JHPD officers and then introducing and orienting them to the communities we serve,” he wrote. “Several additional officers will join us at the start of the upcoming fall semester, during which time you may begin seeing JHPD officers and vehicles on campus in a limited capacity as they get to know our community.”
He emphasized how the new department strives to build relationships with the Hopkins community and added that they will join safety walks, orientations and campus-wide events throughout the semester. More JHPD officers will be phased in during spring as they complete the required onboarding process.
Bard concluded by describing how the JHPD will work closely with the current public safety team, JHPS, to strengthen their approach to public safety across all Hopkins campuses in Baltimore and D.C.
