To:  Louis J. Forster, Chair
       Anthony A.  Anderson, Vice Chair  
       Sarah B. O’Hagan, Vice Chair
       William E. Conway, Jr., Vice Chair ex officio
       and the members of the Johns Hopkins University Board of Trustees
                                                             
From: Concerned Johns Hopkins Faculty                                                                                                      
Re:  Creation of an Armed Johns Hopkins University Police Department

January 13, 2020

We understand that a group of Johns Hopkins students met with members of the Board of Trustees on December 6, 2019 to discuss the Johns Hopkins University Police Department and other related matters.  Many faculty at Johns Hopkins have strongly opposed this plan since it was first announced.  Like the students, the signatories to this letter continue to think that the creation of a private police department is misconceived.  It is also symptomatic of a larger crisis in university governance, the steady whittling away of the power of University stakeholders to participate meaningfully in decision-making fundamental to the future welfare of Johns Hopkins and the city of Baltimore.

        Here we lay out our objections to the Johns Hopkins University Police Department.  We will set aside for another occasion other recent failures in governance.

• Private University policing does not enhance community safety.  Expert opinion on the topic of “hotspot” and problem-oriented policing has established that although these approaches may result in short-term crime reduction in the targeted areas, they also push crime into adjacent neighborhoods.  This would be ethically unacceptable, yet the administration has not properly addressed this fundamental issue.

Studies show that there are likely to be large racial disparities in the frequency and outcomes of armed police-citizen encounters, and we are concerned that a Johns Hopkins University Police Department will decrease the safety of African-American residents in our surrounding neighborhoods.  The mandate of the Johns Hopkins police will be to protect a private institution, not the City’s residents as a whole.  We fear that it will compound the potential for biased policing.  

The record of excessive force used by other University police is not encouraging.  We are deeply dismayed by the fatal shootings and serious injuries of students and local residents at the hands of armed campus police around the country at the University of Cincinnati, the University of Chicago, Yale, and elsewhere, including Morgan State.

• Private University policing does not enhance campus safety.  University benefactor Michael Bloomberg remarked in January 2019 that he thought it was “ridiculous” that Johns Hopkins did not yet have an armed police force of its own, citing the fears of patients and the parents of students.  Yet black faculty, staff, students (and their parents), and workers overwhelmingly oppose the force.  Personal experience confirms on a daily basis the data on race and policing:  too many of us have been stopped on campus by security and off-duty police, essentially on suspicion of “walking while black.”  Student opposition overall also remains intense.  Despite the University President’s assurances that we will have a well-trained police force, the prospect of more police and guns on campus makes us feel less safe for good reason.  We have said so from the beginning.  

• Private University policing reduces accountability.  Accountability is a fundamental pillar of “constitutional” policing and community driven policing: the formation of a JHU Police Department weakens these principles.  A university’s police force is by definition less accountable to those it polices than a public police department.  The citizens of Baltimore can oust a Mayor who appoints an ineffective or corrupt police Commissioner.  But neither the members of the Johns Hopkins community nor our neighbors elect the University President who approves the police plan and hires the head of Security.  

Multiple police departments make accountability to Baltimoreans more difficult by creating a maze of overlapping jurisdictions, incommensurate organizational structures, and tangled lines of authority.  This is especially problematic for the beleaguered residents who will have to live under a dual regime: some are already organizing to forestall the potentially worst effects of simultaneous policing by the BPD and the JHUPD.  Multiple jurisdictions impede the uniform implementation of needed police reforms, and require citizens to monitor several departments simultaneously.  Policing is a public function and should remain one.  It should not be chopped up and ceded to private institutions that make citizens’ control and reform more difficult.

• Private University policing reduces transparency.  Transparency is integral to accountability and good policing. So far, the University’s record has not inspired confidence.  The Homewood Faculty Assembly’s formal petition of inquiry to the President, dated April 8, 2019, concerning several aspects of the police plan and the administration’s handling of the Garland Hall Sit-In, did not receive a satisfactory response.  Johns Hopkins officials also conducted at least three outreach meetings this summer and early fall without disclosing them.  They did not post notices of these meetings, list the invited neighborhood associations or other attendees, which included two state senators, or publish minutes. The failure to make this information public is not a trivial lapse: according to prevailing civic norms governing the BPD and Baltimore City Council, these meetings should have been treated as public.  In our view, the administration has not consistently met the very high bar for transparency needed in police matters.  
 
• Private University policing reinforces the image of Hopkins as a “gated community.”  Although JHU is an important “anchor” institution for the City, it has not always been a friend to its neighbors.  In East Baltimore, local residents who remember the recent history of massive displacement and the failure to deliver renovated low-income housing regard Hopkins with distrust.  A new round of public housing demolition and promised redevelopment is reinforcing this wariness.  A Johns Hopkins private police force that has the primary aim of patrolling the perimeters of its campuses reinforces the sense that JH Institutions are “gated communities” and agents of displacement.

If Johns Hopkins were serious about improving policing for Baltimoreans, it would not create a private police force.  It should instead support the current effort under the Consent Decree to implement top-to-bottom reform of the Baltimore Police Department.  The consent decree is a moment of possibility, an opportunity against long odds to create a police department accountable to all of us who live and work in Baltimore.

• Private University policing generates public controversy.  The Johns Hopkins police project has caused considerable public disagreement and will, we predict, continue to do so.  The State of Maryland enabling legislation engendered fierce debate, and the JHU lobbying campaign also raised eyebrows when The Baltimore Sun reported that Johns Hopkins more than doubled its lobbying budget between 2018 & 2019.  Since then, we hear repeatedly from public officials and neighborhood residents alike, the refrain, “what Hopkins wants, Hopkins gets.”  This expression of resentment and anger at the power of the institution is far from the consensus support that Johns Hopkins should want.  

Finally, the current mayoral campaign is now in full swing, and many of the frontrunners have made police reform and alternatives to policing central to their electoral agendas.  One has very recently highlighted the status of private policing as a platform item, which will push others to do so.  As the University gets its implementation plan underway, its police force will almost certainly produce repeated irritants to residents and members of the Hopkins community.  And if serious police misconduct or injury to a resident should occur, the University leadership will face fierce criticism.  If Johns Hopkins wants to cultivate better relations with its neighbors and with the City government, the creation of a private police department is exactly the wrong move.

***********

 Many experts from Johns Hopkins University, along with experienced and well informed community activists in Baltimore, forcefully argue that Hopkins should concentrate on effective alternatives to arrest and incarceration: on mediation, mental health services, youth-oriented education programs and public health solutions to drug addiction.  We agree.  Johns Hopkins can do far more to repair its reputation and enhance the safety and wellbeing of our Institutions and the residents of Baltimore by focusing on what it can do best: promote public health and educational strategies for crime reduction.  

We, the undersigned, urge the Johns Hopkins University & Medical Institutions to abandon its plan for a Johns Hopkins University Police Department.

Respectfully,

Toby Ditz
Academy Professor and Professor Emeritus of History
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Zackary Berger, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
School of Medicine and Berman Institute of Bioethics

Veena Das
Krieger-Eisenhower Professor
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Drew Daniel
Associate Professor, Department of English
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Amy Knowlton
Professor, Department of Health, Behavior & Society
Bloomberg School of Public Health

N. D. B. Connolly
Herbert Baxter Adams Associate Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Naveeda Khan
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Carsten Prasse
Assistant Professor
Whiting School of Engineering

M. Ali Khan
Abram Hutzler Professor of Political Economy
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Derek Schilling
Professor and Chair, Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Judah Adashi
Peabody Institute

Rochelle Tobias
Professor of German
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Claude Guillemard
Senior Lecturer
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Barbara Morgan, Dr.
Department of Economics
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Daniela C. Rodriguez
Associate Scientist
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Deborah Poole
Professor of Anthropology
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Vito Thomas Castelgrande, MPH
Research Associate, Center for Humanitarian Health & Department of International Health  
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Graham Mooney
Associate Professor
School of Medicine

Ligia Paina, PhD, MHS
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Wayne Biddle, Professor
Writing Seminars, retired
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Meike J. Schleiff
Assistant Scientist
Department of International Health
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Tamer el-Leithy
Assistant Professor of History
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

S. Wilson Beckham
Assistant Scientist
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Emily Riehl
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Suzanne Roos
Senior Lecturer in French
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Jane Bennett
Andrew Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Department of Political Science
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Photini Sinnis
Professor
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Mary P. Ryan
John Martin Vincent Professor of History, Emeritus
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
 
April Wuensch, Dr.
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Alexandre White
Assistant Professor of Sociology & History of Medicine
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences and School of Medicine

Douglas Mao
Russ Family Professor in the Humanities
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Jared Hickman
Associate Professor of English
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Nadia Nurhussein
Associate Professor, English and Africana Studies
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Jesse Rosenthal
Associate Professor, Department of English
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Carolyn Sufrin, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Medicine & Bloomberg School of Public Health

Anicia Chung Timberlake
Assistant Professor of Musicology
Peabody Institute

David Gutkin
Assistant Professor of Musicology
Peabody Institute

Bécquer Seguín
Assistant Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Stephen J. Campbell, Dr.
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Clara Han
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Renee M. Johnson
Associate Professor, Department of Mental Health
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Casey Lurtz
Assistant Professor of History
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Stan Becker
Professor, Friend
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Sabriya Linton
Assistant Professor
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Emmy Smith
Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Johannes Thrul
Assistant Professor, Department of Mental Health
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Lorraine T. Dean
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Francois Furstenberg
Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Mary E. Fissell, PhD
Professor
School of Medicine

Nino Zchomelidse
Associate Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

John W. Jackson, ScD
Assistant Professor
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Sara Berry
Professor Emeritus, History & Anthropology
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Beverly J. Silver
Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Christopher Nealon
Professor, Department of English
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Lester Spence
Professor, Political Science and Africana Studies
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Shane Butler
Nancy H. and Robert E. Hall Professor in the Humanities
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Joel Andreas
Associate Professor of Political Science
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Todd Shepard
Arthur O. Lovejoy Professor of History
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Lydia H. Pecker, MD
Assistant Professor
School of Medicine

Ronald Walters
Professor of History
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

William E. Connolly
Krieger-Eisenhower Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Magda von der Heydt, PhD
Department of Sociology
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Lawrence Jackson
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor English & History
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Dora Malech
Assistant Professor, The Writing Seminars
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Elizabeth Thornberry
Assistant Professor of History
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

William W. Eaton
Professor
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Erica Schoenberger
Professor
Whiting School of Engineering

Daniel Schlozman
Joseph and Bertha Bernstein Associate Professor of Political Science
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Alessandro Angelini
Assistant Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Vesla M. Weaver
Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor of Political Science and Sociology
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Paola Marrati
Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Laurence Ball
Professor of Economics
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Leonardo Lisi
Associate Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Anand Pandian
Professor of Anthropology
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Jennifer L. Culbert
Associate Professor of Political Science
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Neil Hertz
Professor Emeritus
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Nathaniel Comfort
Professor of the History of Medicine
School of Medicine

Philip Morgan
Harry C. Black Professor, Department of History
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

George W. Rebok
Professor
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Nicholas S. Ialongo
Professor
Bloomberg School of Public Health

AE Brodsky
Senior Lecturer
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Ben Zaitchik
Associate Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Judith Walkowitz
Professor Emeritus of History
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Bentley Allan
Assistant Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Katrin Pahl
Associate Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Wietse A. Tol
Associate Professor, Department of Mental Health
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Michael Fried
J. R. Herbert Boone Professor of the Humanities and the History of Art
& Academy Professor in the History of Art
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Robert Leheny
Professor of Physics
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

David Savitt
Professor of Mathematics
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Sarah Woodson
Professor of Biophysics
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Eric Rice
Assistant Professor
School of Education

Kristin Cook Gailloud
Faculty, French section, German and Romance Languages
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Patti L. Ephraim, MPH
Research Associate
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Bruce C. Anderson
Senior Lecturer
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Yair Amir
Professor of Computer Science
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Ruth Leys
Academy Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Steven Rokita
Professor of Chemistry
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Lawrence M. Principe
Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Elizabeth Tolbert
Professor of Musicology
Peabody Institute

Joel Tolman
Professor
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Tobie Meyer-Fong
Professor
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences