Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University has paused its decision to create a university police department, university and medical leaders announced last week.
Leaders said they will pause the development of such a department for at least two years as the U.S. continues to reexamine policing after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died Memorial Day in the custody of Minneapolis police.
Mr. Floyd died after an officer pressed his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, igniting protests against excessive police force worldwide.
"We want Johns Hopkins to be part of the conversation about what is possible for our city and country in rethinking the appropriate boundaries and responsibilities of policing, and to draw on the energies, expertise and efforts of our community in advancing the agenda for consequential and enduring reform," wrote Ronald Daniels, president of the university; Paul Rothman, MD, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Kevin Sowers, MSN, RN, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine, in a letter to faculty, students and staff. "And we want to be able to work now — with a sense of shared purpose and commitment, with our neighbors, and across our university community — to develop and model these alternative approaches."
Leaders said Johns Hopkins initially decided to seek to build a private police department partially due to increased violent crime.
The plan calls for deploying up to 100 sworn officers across campuses, although this force has not yet been created, according to The Baltimore Sun.
The newspaper reports that a Johns Hopkins campus police force has been debated for at least two years. Since Johns Hopkins is a private institution, the university needed legislation to develop its own police department. That legislation passed last year.
But recent events renewed calls from students, professors and community members for the university to completely end its plans for a force. They contend a Johns Hopkins force would threaten their safety and the safety of their friends and families.
Johns Hopkins said pausing the creation of a private police department will allow the university to focus on investing in the debate on public safety; benefit from legislative efforts underway at the local, state and national levels; and take more time to improve current non-sworn campus safety and security operations.
More articles on leadership and management:
Leadership advice from 9 women across Yale New Haven Health
How Geisinger is preparing for potential second COVID-19 wave
Erlanger board approves new 2-year contract with CEO