An advocate group claims that college is normalizing the “overt fortification of campus.”
Some Johns Hopkins University employees and students, together with society organizations, are up in arms over the school’s plans to expand its police department, according to some who argue that an increased police presence poses a threat to school safety.
According to The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, the police department plans to increase its labor to 100 people, which is a major boost from its 16-person labor.
In an email to the college paper, Teachers and Researchers United wrote in a statement to the paper that” we do not think that Johns Hopkins is entitled to answer questions about public safety or offer solutions to health because everything indicates that their reputation is a main cause of unsafe behavior both on college and in the city of Baltimore.”
” Police lessens the group faith in institutions. The doctoral workers union wrote in opposition to joint public health efforts and otherwise prioritizes consequence over addressing some of the underlying causes of crime, including poverty, lack of support services, and unemployment.
Similar to Ty’Shera Mintz, vice president of the Black Student Union, said in an article that” student accents were so clearly ignored.”
” I don’t even feel anger again; only a deep sorrow that Hopkins has never really provided students of color with the safety, solidarity, or understanding we deserve,” she said.
” I can only hope Hopkins has enough dignity left to stop harming the very community it claims to support,” Mintz said.
The police department’s actions, according to the Hopkins Justice Collective, also led to criticism of the student activist group.
Expanding the police force is yet another step in the “gentrify the city” initiative of JHU, the group wrote.
The group wrote that the department’s” 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.”
Additionally, it was questioned why JHPD officers were “authorized to carry riot gear.”
The University attempts to normalize the overt militarization of Baltimore City, HJC wrote,” by keeping the student body in the dark.”
HJC also raised concerns about the JHPD working with immigration authorities to detain foreign students, citing instances like Florida International University, where campus police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have collaborated to enforce immigration policy.
The Chief of Police for the JHPD, Branville Bard, addressed these questions by stating that officers cannot “tell ICE the location of individuals.”
The department is unable to “assist ICE agents,” excluding “exceptional circumstances” involving human trafficking, life safety, and” service of a warrant” requests.
He added that when the department employs 100 people, the officers won’t flood the campuses. 12 to 16 officers will instead be stationed on each of the three campuses, conducting 24-hour patrols.
The JHPD has nothing to do with serving this community, according to Bard, unlike [Baltimore Police Department], which runs from call to call.
Additionally, he stated that the JHPD is committed to upholding guidelines set forth by the American Civil Liberties Union for university police departments, with an emphasis on “holding ] individuals accountable.”
Through protests, disruptions of public meetings, and legal action, Johns Hopkins students and staff have been actively opposing the university’s private police department for years, according to CBS News.
The Baltimore Police Department and the JHPD’s agreement, which establishes jurisdictional boundaries, assigns call responses, and determines when BPD takes control of investigations, was challenged by the” Coalition Against Policing by Hopkins.” More than a dozen organizations are urging the school to abolish its police force, according to the coalition’s Instagram account.
Protesters halted two legally mandated town halls in 2022 to discuss the police force’s formation and establishment.
MORE: Students protest as Johns Hopkins University begins to form a police force
IMAGE CREDIT AND CAPTION: In Chicago, Motion Loop/Shutterstock, protest signs read “defund the police” and “abolish the police.”
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