Established in 2018, the Johns Hopkins Police Force has faced significant critical responses from students and community members, including student protests in 2019, spray-painted messages around campus in 2020, and a student-led “Die-in,” where participants imitated lying dead on the floor in a town hall in 2022. In face of opposition and nationwide protests against racism and police brutality, JHPD operations paused between June 2020 and June 2022 to evaluate the department.
Following the pause, the JHPD resumed its progression, with first tranche of public policies posted for public comment in Sept. 2023 and final policies finalized on July 31, 2024.
In an interview with The News-Letter, Branville G. Bard, Jr., the chief of police for the JHPD and vice president for Public Safety, explained that the pause was intended to give the University time to build the department deliberately; align with statewide, police reform legislation; and expand the broader public safety structure, including behavioral health crisis response.
“[During the pause], the University hired me as the vice president for Public Safety, and then later the chief of police. In the spirit of creating the most comprehensive ecosystem of public safety, [the University] researched, developed and implemented the behavioral health crisis support team, which is a dual-response program where a licensed clinician and an unarmed Public Safety officer can respond to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis,” he said.
The JHPD operates on the Homewood, East Baltimore and Peabody campuses with surrounding geographical boundaries. Within these areas, the JHPD is only authorized to act on properties that University currently operates in or owns and public property immediately adjacent to campus.
Today, JHPD has 16 employees and aims to reach 100 employees by 2025, when they hope to be full time and full service. In the interview, Bard mentioned that the department at its full capacity will distribute a few officers to each campus.
“When we do reach 100 employees, that’s never going to look like 100 police officers swarming our campuses. It will look like 12 to 16 officers split between all three campuses, patrolling 24 hours a day,” Bard added
JHPD supporters believe a University police department can respond more effectively — relative to the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) — to active crime on campus due to their proximity and knowledge of the campus, a point echoed by Bard.
“The address typically comes up 3400 Charles Street for Homewood. A BPD officer may come to 3400 Charles Street and not know exactly where Garland or Ames Hall is, while the JHPD officer is going to know the exact access routes and get to the emergency as fast as possible. Unlike BPD, which runs from call to call, the JHPD has nothing to do but serve this community,” Bard stated.
On the other hand, opponents — including students, faculty, community members and neighborhood associations — argue that the JHPD is unnecessary because they believe an armed police force causes greater violence in cities.
In an email to The News-Letter, Vice President of the Black Student Union Ty'Shera Mintz, commented on she feels about the University continuing with establishing the JHPD even after years of student protests.
“The fact that student voices were so blatantly ignored speaks volumes. I don’t even feel anger anymore, just a deep disappointment that Hopkins has never truly provided students of color with the safety, solidarity, or understanding we deserve,” she wrote.
She further criticized the university’s response to community concerns, expressing frustration over what she described as repeated dismissals by the administration.
“Time and time again, Hopkins has dismissed our concerns — and there’s only so many times they can tell tuition-paying students that our lives, and the lives of the Baltimore community members around us, don’t matter,” she wrote. “I can only hope Hopkins has enough dignity left to stop harming the very community it claims to support.”
Addressing concerns about the role of the JHPD in responding to violence, Bard clarified that the decision to establish the department was driven by the reality of crime, not its frequency.
“[We did not establish JHPD] because X amount of robberies occur or X amount of shootings occur; it's because robberies do occur,” Bard explained. “When they do occur, we want to be able to provide the most appropriate response when someone is seriously harmed or injured.”
In an email to The News-Letter, the Hopkins Justice Initiative (HJC) criticized the notion that the JHPD exists to enhance student safety. They argued that, instead of promoting community safety, the JHPD exposes Hopkins students to risks of police violence perpetrated by University police officers, citing examples from Morgan State University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Yale University.
“As Hopkins students, we want to set the record straight: JHPD does not make us feel safe... The JHPD is one more part in JHU’s efforts to continually gentrify the city. Their 100 armed, private police officers present a threat to the lives and safety of every person in their jurisdiction — with no recourse for their violence,” they wrote.
According to HJC, the University had repeatedly taken irresponsible actions towards the Baltimore community throughout history, such as the non-consensual use of Henrietta Lacks’s cells, the deliberate exposure of Baltimore families to lead paint without their knowledge and the use of eminent domain in Baltimore’s Middle East neighborhood. HJC stated that they believe that these records point to the untrustworthiness of the University and its disregard for Baltimore residents.
In an email to The News-Letter, a spokesperson for Teachers and Researchers United (TRU-UE) shared similar sentiments, calling for the complete and immediate abolition of the JHPD. They voiced their objections to the JHPD by arguing that policing contributes to violence rather than safety, erodes community trust and enables the criminalization of vulnerable populations at Hopkins.
“Policing reduces community trust in institutions. It hinders collaborative public health efforts and instead prioritizes punishment over addressing some of the root causes of crime: poverty, lack of support services, and unemployment,” they wrote.
TRU-UE also argued that the installation of the JHPD runs contrary to the University’s obligations to the Baltimore community by continuing a history of exploiting, disinvesting in and dispossessing of the city of Baltimore.
“We do not believe that Johns Hopkins is entitled to answer questions about public safety or provide solutions to safety because everything points to their presence being a root cause of unsafety both on campus and in the city of Baltimore,” they wrote.
Amidst this distrust, Bard emphasized ongoing efforts to build trust through visibility and engagement.
“We engage with all of our stakeholders at every opportunity. The idea is that we want to be present without being overbearing. So whether it's New Student Orientation, Family Weekend, Alumni Weekend, we're there to engage,” he added.
Current students emphasized this priority on transparency to foster trust between the department and the community. An undergraduate student further explained their sentiments in an interview to The News-Letter.
“I think making JHPDs terms, powers, jurisdictions, and policies very transparent to students is a good way of getting students to trust them,“ they stated.
HJC called into question the transparency of the JHPD’s development. They quoted some questions they frequently receive from the Hopkins community, including ones about the labels used by JHPD vehicles, the patrol areas of JHPD officers and the militarized gear of the JHPD.
“As we observe new JHPD technologies appear [...] we get more and more questions from our fellow Hopkins students, workers, and staff. Why are there cars and badges labeled campus police, campus security, and public safety?” they wrote. “Why is the JHPD armed? Why are they authorized to carry riot gear? [...] By keeping the student body in the dark, the University attempts to normalize the overt militarization of campus and Baltimore City.”
HJC believes that increased policing does not contribute to student well-being. Instead, they argue that the University should halt its expansion projects and commit to non-police forms of support for vulnerable members of the Hopkins community, such as sexual assault survivors.
Opponents also criticized the lack of accountability in place, such as through the Johns Hopkins University Police Accountability Board, established in 2019 to hear community voices, has a limited scope of enforcement, and criticized officers’ lack of expertise with sexual harassment, one of the most common form of crime experienced by students.
Freshman Elaine Flowers, who works in the Whiting School of Engineering Dean’s Office, emphasized the importance of the JHPD supporting students with on-campus crimes, particularly sexual assault, in an interview with The News-Letter.
“I believe the JHPD does what it can to remain available and accessible for the most part, but there’s always room for them to do more. I receive a lot of calls at my job about people trying to report sexual assault or other assault charges that happened against them on campus and little to nothing happened. The department needs to work hard to protect the students within campus walls,” Flowers commented.
TRU-UE also provided alternatives for contributing to student well-being in their email. They argue that the University should stop its geographical expansion in city neighborhoods; increase the presence of trained, unarmed personnel to de-escalate conflicts and address non-violent safety concerns; expand access to free or reduced-cost care at Hopkins Hospital or at clinics that serve low-income, vulnerable and at-risk populations in the city; and provide safe and reliable transportation to actually meet its goal of improving student wellness.
Bard highlighted several ongoing initiatives by the Public Safety Department to reduce violence, including support for the Mayor’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS), which focuses on engaging victims of violence and guiding them towards safety success. He also emphasized the partnership with Roca, a program designed to break the cycle of poverty and incarceration through job training and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Additionally, Bard announced the University’s contribution towards the Innovation Fund for Community Safety — a $6 million investment to support grassroots programs that serve individuals most at risk of experiencing or being affected by violence. The second round awardees for this program will be announced soon.
“[These organizations] want to intervene with those who are likely to be perpetrators of or be the victims of violence at the earliest point possible,” Bard emphasized.
HJC further expressed concerns about the potential for the JHPD to collaborate with immigration authorities to detain international students. They pointed out that Campus Police — such as in the case of, Florida International University — and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have collaborated to detain students who are visa holders and legal permanent residents in universities across the country. For this reason, they believe that the need for the removal of the police on campus has become increasingly urgent.
In regards to recent ICE detainments, Bard commented that JHPD’s ultimate responsibility is to follow the law and University policies, which do not include immigration enforcement. According to Bard, the JHPD is prohibited from asking about immigration status or assisting ICE except in limited circumstances.
“We can't tell ICE the location of individuals, and we can not assist ICE agents, except for very limited circumstances involving human trafficking, life safety or anything involving the service of a warrant,” Bard stated.
However, Bard acknowledged that the attorney general for Maryland reminded employers of the policy that organizations cannot prohibit employees from sharing information with federal enforcement officers.
“We won't ever ask you about your immigration status. We won't, in a perfect world, come into contact with your immigration status, and at no point can we ever be compelled to give that status to the federal government, but we can't say [officers] are prohibited from providing [information],” he said.
Bard reaffirmed the department’s goal to become a model for progressive policing, aiming to prevent racial injustices and hold officers to high standards. According to Bard, the department’s policies are regularly reviewed to remain protective and fair.
“The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published guidance model policies for university police departments, and we are committed to adhere to it. We are focusing on hiring individuals who are going to uphold a high standard and hold individuals accountable,” he said.
Shirlene John contributed reporting.
